
Class. 

Book 



SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT 





s 



LYON'S 



llitittff I MUtmtm 



ON BOONTON 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 



ON BOONTON, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF BOONTON, AT 

WASHINGTON MALL, ON THE EVENINGS OF 

SEPTEMBER 21 AND 28, AND OCTOBER 5, 1887, 



JiV 



ISAAC S. LYON, Ex-Cartman. 



fr/tii 



PRINTED FOP. THE AUTHOR, AND FOR SALE BY IILM 
ONLY, AT HIS STORE IN BROOK STREET, BOONTON 



PRICE, £>0 OETNI'S. 



IJtaVJKt, 3t. &. 

PBINTBD AT THE DAILY JO UKNAL OFFICE, 184 JlABXBT STBEETj 

18 73. 



DEDICATION. 

To the future Inhabitants of Boonton, who, I doubt not, will more fully 
appreciate the value of the information contained in these pages, than do 
the people of Boonton, of the present day, this Discourse is respectfully 
inscribed by, 

THE AUTHOR. 






\ 



V 



A 












PREFACE. 



INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY. 



The larger portion of the following His- 
torical Discourse on Boonton was written dur- 
ing the year 1850, and was first delivered be- 
fore the citizens of said town on the evening 
of October -id of that year. Shortly after 
its delivery I obtained a considerable amount 
ot new and interesting information relating 
to the early history of Old Boonton ; and lor 
the purpose of introducing it into its proper 
place and connection I found that it would 
be necessary to rewrite and rearrange the 
whole discourse. This tedious and laborious 
task was performed during the year 18G0, 
with the intention of redelivering it at that 
time ; but, owing to the then distracted con- 
dition of our country, its delivery was de- 
ferred until the year 18G7, at which time it 
was redelivered as it now Btands. It was 
originally written in three parts, under the 
caption of " B ronton — Past, Present and Fu- 
ture." I now present it exactly as it was de- 
livered in 1807, divided under tho three fol- 
lowing headings : Part First— Old Boonton ; 
Part Second— Boonton ; Part Third — Miscel- 
laneous Facts and Speculations. 

At the first d-elivery of tbis discourse, in 
1839, there was a large and appreciative au- 
dience present, and parts one and two were 
well received ; but part three, the Future, 
was pretty sharply criticised and ridiculed by 
u few of the gentlemen then preBent. The 
visual organs of those gentlemen were not 
then quite keen enough to see things as yet 
unseen, and they denounced many of my 
well-planned visions of the future as alto- 
gether improbable, if not absolutely impossi- 
ble. Tis true that many of the great events 
then just beginning to assume form and shape 
in tho mighty womb of the future were then 
seen, if seen at all, " as through a glass dark- 
ly ;" but, now that many of those predic- 
tions have been fully verified, those self-same 
gentlemen— the scales having fallen from their 



eyes— can now see those then unseen thin^e 
quite distinctly— yea, even in the full blazs of 
unclouded sunshine ! But this is not all, for 
those self-same Rip Van Winkles now havo 
the r.ssuranco to boldly exclaim, " Didn't 1 
tell you so ?" Many of the events that were 
predicted on that occasion (1859), and which 
were sneered at as the senseless fictions of a 
distempered lniagimition, have already be- 
come matters of history, and can now be seen 
by all. I was juBt then beginning to wear 
glasses myself; but Btill I thought, as 1 
glanced my old spectacled eyes along down 
the bright vibta of the future, that I could 
very clearly discern in the distance a vaet 
sign-board, on which was very distinctly in 
scribed these cheering words : 

'• Boonton' a bound to go ahead ! " 

And now the important fact occurs to my 
mind that of all the aged persons of whom I 
obtained valuable information at that time 
not one of them is at present living. Rip9 in 
years and honors, those venerable old chroni- 
clers have all passed away ; and had these re- 
searches into our past history been deferred 
until the present time, much that has been 
rescued from the oblivious past would have 
b?en lost to us and our posterity forever. 

It was not my intention that this discoursa 
should have been published during my own 
lifetime, fori very well know that the present 
age is not capable of appreciating such a 
production; but I feel quite confident that 
the Boontonians of the luture will, and that 
they will thank me for the performance of 
the difficult task, rudely and imperfectly as 
it has been done. I now submit it for publi- 
cation, in the hope that by multiplying its 
numbers it may be preserved and perpetuated 
until the facts which it contains shall be rec- 
ognized and appreciated. 

Boonton, N. J., March, 187* 



PART FIRST, 



OLD BOONTON 



September 21, 1867. 

Ladies and Gentlemen :— It has been 
truly said that history is the great magic 
mirror in winch the histoiian, the mightiest 
of magicians, coDJures up the scenea and in- 
cidents of the past for the instruction of pres- 
ent and future generation?. Only about one 
century has elapsed since the first known set- 
tlement of this section of country, and but 
one generation haB passed away tince the 
first permanent settlement of this now beau- 
tiful village, and yet it is already a difficult 
matter to obtain any correct knowledge 
respecting the early history of either, 
and in a few short years more the 
little that is now known would pass from 
the memory of our aged inhabitants and be 
entirely forgotten if left in its present unre- 
corded state. It is in this view of the sub- 
ject — the hope of benefiting the people of 
-. future ages, more than for the enlightenment 
of the present— that I have undertaken the 
laborious tatk which I have thus voluntarily 
imposed upon myself, without the most dis- 
tant hope of pecuniary reward. 

The origin and early history of many of 
the great empires and cities of antiquity have 
been wholly lost to the modern world merely 
because there were no observing chroniclers 
present to record them. The early history of 
the once mighty empires of Egypt and 
Greece, of Arabia and Persia, in the Eastern 
world, and of the great Aztec and Allegke- 
nian races, whose arts and intelligence ence 
extended the line of civilization along the 
shores of the Western World, now lie buried 



beneath the accumulated rubbish of past ages. 
The names and character of tho people who 
reared the grand old cities of Troy and Car- 
thage, of Balbec and Palmyra, of Nineveh 
and Persipolis, of Thebes and Memphis, have 
all passed away, and the date of their origin 
has long since been forgotten. And thus 
might it have been in regard to much rare 
and valuable information relating to the early 
history of those two great modern cities, 
London and New York, but for the industry 
and perseverance of those two rare old chron- 
iclers, Stow and Denton. In the reign of Eliz- 
abeth one John Stow, as he was sometimes 
called, a citizen of London, aud a tailor by 
trade, made a personal survey of every Btreet 
and lane in every ward in that famous old 
city, and in his scarce old book, entitled "A 
Survey of London," he has left us datailed 
descriptions of all the old landmark* that 
existed at that time. And the same may bo 
said of the little book of Daniel Denton, in 
which he gives a vivid description of New 
York in 1670. Although not near so large and 
learned a work as Stow's, still it constitutes 
the starting point from which all subsequent 
historians have derived most of their infor- 
mation of the early days of the now greai 
American metropolis. I am not vain enough, 
however, to suppose that this little village of 
Boonton will ever rival either of those great 
cities, or that this imperfect and hastily writ- 
ten little sketch will in any way compare 
with the deeply interesting productions ol 
either of those quaint old authors. In pre- 
paring this discourse my highest ambition 



6 



lias been to collect all the facts, great and 
small, •within my reach, in any way apper- 
taining to the local history of this village 
and its suburbs, and compiling them together 
in the best form and manner of which I am 
capable. These facts— many of them simple 
in themselves, 'tis true — I now place upon 
record for the benefit of the future historian, 
who will know well enough what to do with 
them. 

It is quite impossible at the present time to 
ascertain the exact date when the first settle- 
ment of this section of Morria county was 
made, or by whom made. I have made dili- 
gent inquiry on this point in various direc- 
tions with but little success, for there do 
not appear to have been any written records 
made upon this subject. All the old land- 
marks, and all the written records of the past, 
if any were ever made, seem to have been 
swept away and destroyed, and clouds of 
misty obscurity now envelop most of the 
scenes and incidents connected with our early 
history. In a description of the Province of 
New Jersey, published in the Gentleman's 
Magazine, in London, in the year 1755, no 
mention whatever is made of Morris county. 
All that section of country lying north and 
west of the Passaic river is described as tub- 
known lands ; but we know that this state- 
ment is not true, for there are plenty of au- 
thentic records still extant that go to prove 
the contrary, of which I uhall have more to 
say as we proceed. 

Among the places in this section of Morris 
county known to have been settled at an early 
day are those of " Bever-Wyck" and what is 
now known as " Old Boonton." It is a well- 
known fact that the first named place was 
occupied by a wealthy planter of the name 
of Lucas Von Beaverhoudt, who emigrated 
here from the Island of St. Thomas some- 
where between the years 1745 and 1750. TLe 
old manor of Bever-Wyck included many 
thousand acres, and was under cultivation 
when Mr. Von Beaverhoudt first settled there, 
lie brought with him from the Island of St. 
Thomas, when he emigrated to New Jersey, 
a large number of negro slaves to work bis 
plantation, and in my youthful days I have 
often heard old persons say that they had 
seen several hundreds of these slaves working 
together in the same field. The old Bever- 
Wyck manor is situated a little east of the 



village of Troy, on the turnpike road leading 
from Parsippany to Caldwell. One hundred 
years ago it was one of the largest and best 
cultivated plantations in New Jersey. It was 
still in its glory when I was a boy of ten 
years old ; but now it is shorn of much of its 
former greatness and splendor. It was called 
the " Red Barracks " during the Revolution, 
on account of the numerous red huts that 
had been erected there for the accommodation 
of the slaves, and was much visited during 
tLat period by Washington and the principal 
officers of the American army. It has been 
related to me as a historical fact, by Dr. R. 
V. W. Fairchild, who had it from his grand- 
mother, the late Mrs. G. D. Brinkerhoof, who 
died in 1818, at the advanced age of 95 years, 
that Washington, Hamilton and Andre &11 
once slept under the hospitable roof of the 
old Bever-Wyck mansion on the same night. 
It appears that Major Andre had long been 
on terms of intimacy with the family of Mr. 
Von Beaverhoudt — Bever-Wyck being con- 
sidered as neutral ground by both par- 
ties during the Revolution — and having 
often expressed a strong desire to see 
General Washington, the great champion 
of rebellion, it was so arranged between 
them that he might be there on the same 
night that Washington and Hamilton were 
expected to be present. The interview, how- 
ever, was not mutual, but was obtained on 
the part of Andre by concealing himself in 
an adjoining room and peeking tlirough a 
crack in the door. His cariosity was fully 
gratified ; but he saw Washington again 
shortly after, in a less attractive light, at Tar- 
rytown. 

I regret very much that I have not been 
able to fix the exact date of the first settle- 
ment of Old Boonton ; but, after all my re- 
searches for information on this important 
point, I have not been successful in tracing 
out anything of a decisive character upon 
the subject. As remarked by Rev. Peter Ka- 
nouse, who is now about 80 years of tge, in a 
late letter addressed to me, in reply to a letter to 
him, soliciting information upon this particu- 
lar point, " These researches have been de- 
layed too long by at least one generation." 

But, happily for posterity, if not for our- 
selves, we have not been left wholly in the 
dark upon the subject of our early history. 
Thanks to the virtues of old-time parchment, 



and the retentive memory of a few aged m 
dividuals who still remain amongst us, all U 
not yet lost ! There are still in existence an 
old map and deed of the Boonton tract, which 
throw considerable light upon the fust set- 
Llementa made in this vicinity. And there 
likewise yet remain in our midst a few living 
relics of the past— aged men and women, in 
whose fading memories still float many shad- 
owy visions of the far-off "olden time"— 
aged men and women, who have already 
pHs-ed the prescribed limits allotted to hu- 
man existence, and whose snow-crowned 
heads still loom up amid the solitudes of 
Time, constituting the only existing links 
that now connect the living with the dead, 
the present with the past. It is from these 
living chronicles of a by-gone age— these 
aged men and women, who have breasted the 
Btorms of life and withstood the prostrating 
hand of Time for more than three-score years 
and ten— that I have obtained most of my 
facts and information respecting the early 
history of Old Boonton. But theso aged men 
and women, in whose flickering memories are 
now garnered up these golden treasures of 
the past, and whose faltering tongues alone 
cau give them utterance, will too soon be laid 
low in the cold and icy grasp of death. This, 
and this alone— the hope of rescuing some of 
these facts and incidents from their down- 
ward pilgrimage to oblivion and the grave, 
lor the enlightenment of those who shall 
come after us — has prompted me to attempt 
this difficult and laborious undertaking. 

In order to fully understand our present 
situation it will be necessary to take a brief 
surrey of the history of New Jersey. New 
York and New Jersey were both Grst settled 
by the Dutch about the year 1614, both prov- 
inces remaining in peaceful poseesfion of the 
same during a period of just fifty years. In 
the year 1664 Charles Second, of England, 
with a liberality worthy his high station — 
though he had not even the shadow of a title to 
back him— concluded to oust the honest 
Dutchman from his possessions and appropri- 
ate them to himself. " In pursuance of this 
purpose a royal charter, dated 20th of March, 
1G64, was executed in favor of the Duke of 
York, containing a grant of the whole region 
of country extending from the western bank 
of the Connscticnt river to the eastern shore 
of the Delaware." The royal Duke beiDg at 



that time considerably involved in his pe- 
cuniary transactions, soon thereafter conveyed 
to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret "all 
that portion of territory which forms tho 
present state of New Jersey." Shortly after 
Col. Nichols, " with an armament consisting 
of three ships, with 180 guns and GOO men," 
were sent over to take possession, peaceably 
if he could, forcibly if he must ; but the 
quiet and peace-loving Dutchman yieided up 
the prize without resistance, and the English 
at once became masters of the situation. The 
province was then divided into East and 
West Jersey, Oirteret assuming the govern 
ment of tho former, and Berkley that of the 
latter. Sir George Carteret and his brother 
Philip retained possession of East Jersey un- 
til about the end of the year 1G81, when the 
province was transferred to other hands. 
Emigrants now began to flock in from all 
quarters, and the country soon began to fill 
up with hardy and industrious settlers. Some. 
of them purchased their land of the Proprie- 
tors, and others purchased from the Indians, 
the rightful owners of tho soil, but which 
was contrary to the laws promulgated by the 
Kiug of England. Affairs remained in this 
wild state of confusion and bewilderment 
until the year 1702, at which time the Propri- 
etors surrendered the government of the Jer- 
eies to the Crown, and the two provinces 
were united into one. The same Governor 
ruled over both New York and New Jersey 
until the year 1738, at which time a separate 
Governor was appointed over the latter prov- 
ince. 

The earliest account we have of the extin- 
guishment of the Indian title to the land 
upon which Boonton now stands extends 
back about two hundred years. A short time 
before the news of the grant made by Charles 
Second to the Duke of York reached here a 
number of companies had been organized for 
the purpose of purchasing lands of the In- 
dians, with a view of establishing new settle- 
ments. " On the 28th of October, 1GG4, John 
Bailey, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson, of 
Jamaica, on Long Island, purchased of cer- 
tain Indian chiefs of Staten Island large 
tracts of wild lands in East Jersey." These 
tracts were four in number, and were subse- 
quently known as the Elizabeth, the Moun- 
tain, the Horse Neck and the Van Gison. 
These four tracts were estimated to contain 



8 



about 400,000 acres, and embraced moat of the 
lauds included within the present limits of 
Essex and Morris counties. The considera- 
tion given the Indians for these immense 
tracts of land was thirty-six pounds fourteen 
shillings sterling, payable in Indian trinkets 
at four times their real value, being less than 
half a mill an acre, and less than the price of 
an ordinary building lot in Boonton at the 
present day. Daniel Denton soon thereafter 
sold out his share of the purchase to one 
Oapt. John Baker, of New York, and John Og- 
den, of Northampton. The Proprietors of 
Fist Jersey resisted their claim to these lands 
under the Indian title, and a long and almost 
interminable suit in Chancery was the conse- 
quence. After years of litigation the case 
was finally decided in favor of the Proprie- 
tors, and all those who had purchased lands 
of Bayley & Co. had to either throw up their 
claim or repurchase of th9 old Proprietors. 
Such is generally the power of might over 

right. 

I now come to speak more particularly cf 
what has long been known as the " Boonton 
Tract," and of the first settlement of what we 
now term " Old Boonton." I obtain the fol- 
lowing facts from the original deed from 
Samuel Ogden and his wife to John Jacob 
and Richard B. Faish. This deed bears date 
Oct. 8th, 1805, and is signed by Samuel Og- 
den and Euphemia, his wife, as convey- 
ancers, and is witnessed by William Mere- 
dith and Lewis Morris Ogden. The amount 
of land conveyed at this time was two thou- 
sand five hundred and one acres and fifty- 
four-hundredth of an acre, and the price paid 
for it was $10,000. This deed is written on 
three folio sheets of parchment, and in it 
mention is made of all the lands that had 
been sold from the tract up to that date. The 
original Boonton tract contained four thou- 
sand and sixty-six acres and thirty-eight hun- 
dredths of an acre. It extended along on 
both sides of the Rockaway river, but mostly 
on the west bank, commencing some distance 
below Old Boonton, and extending up the 
eaid river to the Rockaway valley, embracing 
within its limits not only Old and New Boon- 
ton and Powerville, but also portions of the 
present villages of Montville, Taylortown 
and Denville. The oldest transfer of title 
referred to in this deed makes reference to a 
tract of about nine acres, " lying on the west 



bank of the Rockaway river, about one mile 
above the Boonton Iron Works/' conveyed to 
one Fanny Thomas " before 1719." This, no 
doubt, is the same tract that is now termed 
the " Fanny Place," situated on the back road 
-leading from Old Boonton to Powerville. 
There is a small tract of land, corresponding 
with this location, marked on the map re- 
ferred to as having been deeded to Fanny 
Thomas, but no date is given. Reference is 
also made on this map to a tract of land con- 
taining one hundred and fifty acres, conveyed 
by George Ryerson to Frederick Demouth by 
a deed dated January, 174G. It is judged 
from its location that the tavern house at 
Powerville now stands on a part of this tract. 
Between the years 1766 and 1800 David Og- 
den and his son Samuel sold land in various 
quantities to the following named persons — 
all names very well known in this section of 
Morris county : Abraham Van Winkle, Elias 
Van Winkle, Jaoob Kanouse, Conradt Ka- 
nouse, Conradt Hoppler. John Tucker, Nicho- 
las Husk, Charles Norway, Christian Lowrer, 
Daniel Peer, Abraham Peer, Lemuel Cobb, 
James Van Duyne, Edmund, Joseph and 
Isaac Kingsland. Considerable quantities of 
these lands still remain in possession of the 
descendants of the original purchasers, but 
most of them have passed into other hands. 
We will now pass to the consideration of 
the early history of Old Boonton, or to such 
portions of it as we have been able to trace 
out. And here permit me to remark that I 
approach the investigation of the subject 
with feelings somewhat akin to those of the 
man who attempts to seek oat the graves of 
his ancestors in an old burying ground in 
whiclTno monuments had been erected. The 
history of Old Boonton is so deeply shrouded 
in doubt and mystery that it is a difficult mat- 
ter to arrive at any important conclusions 
with certainty ; but still 1 hope to be able to 
disentomb some of its long buried remains, 
and expose to the light of day some of its 
long hidden secrets. But the exact time when 
and by whom Old Boonton was first settled 
is a secret that, probably, will never be made 
known to us ; but that it was settled prior to 
the year 1700— probably as early at 1685 — 
there are some very good reasons for believ- 
ing, as I shall presently show. The only au- 
thentic information I have been able to ob- 
tain upon the subject places the Boontor 



tract in possession of David Ogden as early as 
1759 ; but the exact time at which the title 
to this property came into his possession is 
not known ; neither is it known of whom he 
obtained it, nor the manner in which it was 
acquired. Possibly he might have inherited 
it through relationship to (ht John Ogden 
who purchased the Denton claim; or, what is 
still more likely, he might have obiaiued it 
of the Proprietors as a compensation for the 
services which he rendered them in the gtent 
Chancery Buit, in which they were plaintiffs, 
the issue of which was determined in their 
favor at about the time that it is supposed to 
have first come into his possession. 

But perhaps it would be well before pro- 
ceeding any further on this point to try and 
ascertain the time, way aud manner in which 
the name of Boonton originated. This is a 
hard puzzle to unriddle, but I shall try it. 
Some half a century ago the name was spelled 
with an e, thus: Boone-Town, but whence 
derived is rather uncertain. The Rev. Peter 
Kanouse is o f ihe iuiurrsjion that the name 
was derived rom a small town in England of 
the same name, and Thomas (J. Willis is of 
the opinion that it was named after a place of 
that name in Holland ; but I think that both 
of these gentlemen are laboring under a 
wrong impression. I have examined very 
critioally maps of both these countries, pub- 
lished in 176o ; but I cannot find the name 
of aoy place in either of those countries that 
bears any resemblance whatever to it. There 
is an old legend currrent among several old 
persons in this section of country that runs 
away back into pre-historic times, to this ef- 
fect. They Bay that they have heard tueir 
fathers say that one Winter, shortly after the 
first settlement of the place, flour was so 
hcrtrce in the neighborhood that all the peo- 
ple then residing there had to subsist entirely 
ou meat for several mouths. The men who 
worked in the iron works — it appears, then, 
that there were iron works there at that early 
day— all lived in a little circle of log huts, 
from the doors of which they all threw their 
bones into the centre of the open circle after 
they had been thoroughly picked. These 
bones soon reared themselves into a small 
pyramid, as a matter of course. In the Spring 
a stranger visited the settlement for the pur- 
pose of spending a few days with a friend 
who worked there. On returning from the 



works to their huts one dark night the stran 
ger, not being familiar with the waihs stumbled 
over the pile of bones and braised "is ll 
On regaining his foet he inquired, " What's 
the name of this miserable plao " It 

hasn't, got any ruuno " replied his friend. 
"Well, then," responded the stranger, shrag 
gintf his shoulders and rubbing his l>r 
shins, " Idar-I in v .-ye*, if I don't. Dam 

Bom -'/'<" '•/ i .'" Booh is the spirit, if not the 

exact letter, of the dim and shadowy old le 
{fend, as related by bouio of the aged men of 
the present day. 

But there is another vi-w to bo taken upon 
the subject which is eutith-d t,> our consider 
ation. The Hon. W. A. Whitehead, of New- 
ark, writes me that he thinks it is possible. 
toe name of Boonton may have been derived 
from that of Gov. Boone, aud this, I am in- 
clined to think, is the most probable solution 
of the mystery. As I before stated, our ear- 
liest correct information upon the suoject 
places the individual ownership of the Boon- 
ton tract in possession of David Ogden, Esq , 
an eminent lawyer of Newurk, as early as 
1759 Thomas Boone, a gentleman of con- 
siderable note in those days, was Governor of 
the Province of New Jersey during the years 
1760-61 and '62. It is not, therefore, at all 
improbable but that Mr. Otrden was person- 
ally acquainted with Gov. Boone, and per- 
haps he was on terms of intimacy with him. 
Having juet come into the possession of a 
ltrge landed estate, with a small village on 
it, situated in New Jersey, it would have been 
natural enough for Mr. Ogden to name it after 
his distinguished friend, the Governor of the 
Province, especially when, even admi' 
the old bone legend to be true, he would only 
Lave to add a single o to the name to trans- 
form it into the shape and form desired. And 
thus we have the Dame Boone-Towu.as it was 
originally written ; and I rather incline to 
the opinion that thie is the way in which the 
name of Boonton originated. It was quite 
customary in those days for the owner of a 
new settlement to name it after some distin- 
guished man of the time as a mark of es- 
teem aDd respect for Buch characters. The 
names of Morristown, Peterson, Livingston, 
Franklin and many others originated in ibis 
way. 

And now I must candidly confess that I 
have been able to trace out but little of a 



10 



positive character respecting the first settle- I 
ment of Old Boonton ; but still I have traced 
out enough information of a reliable charac- 
ter to satisfy myself that it is a much older 
settled place than we have generally been 
led to believe, and that it was a much larger 
and more flourishing place one hundred years 
ago than it is now. To the best of my infor- 
mation and belief, Old Boonton was first set- 
tled at least one hundred and fifty years ago, 
and probably one hundred and seventy -five. 
To the best of my information and belief, the 
first dam ever thrown across the Rockaway 
river for manufacturing purposes was at Old 
Boonton ; and, to the best of my information 
and belief, one of the first— if not the very 
ji rs t — iron works ever established in America 
was at Old Boonton ! Now, to some of you, 
perhaps, tnese startling assertions may ap- 
pear somewhat bold, if not visionary ; but 
still I believe that they are nevertheless true. 
I believe that the secret forge fires and fur- 
naces of Old Boonton blazed, and that her 
ponderous trip-hammers resounded through 
the primitive forests, waking the slumbering 
echoes of the surrounding hills, years before 
the watchful agents of the British Govern- 
ment even dreamed of the existence of any 
such works in this country. 

Having made theae astounding assertions, 
now for the proof and arguments in support 
of the truth of the position I have taken. It 
is a faot well known to the historical reader 
that Hunterdon county originally embraced 
within its limits the whole of our present 
Morris and Sussex counties, and also parts of 
Warren and Mercer. Morris county was in- 
corporated by an act of the Provincial Legis- 
lature of New Jersey, bearing date March 
15th, 1739. It was called Morris county in 
honor of Lewis Morris, who was then Gov- 
ernor of the Province- Acccording to the 
first census, taken in 1745, Morris county 
contained a population of 4,436 inhabitants, 
which was a large number for that early day. 
The New Jersey Historical Collections, made 
by Barber and Howe, inform us that Hanover 
township was the first place settled by white 
inhabitants in Morris county. This event oc- 
curred about the year 1685, the first settlers 
being from Newark, Elizabethtown, Long 
Island, Old and New England. This much 
is certain ; but it quite possible that some por- 
tions of the county might have been settled 



at a Btill earlier day. They soon after erecte" 
several forges — so says the record — and com- 
menced manufacturing considerable quanti- 
ties of iron ; and even at that early day the 
news of their existence got spread abroad, 
until the place of their location became 
known as the " locality of old forges." Now, 
they being denominated old forges, the 
natural and logical inference is that they had 
been established there some considerable time 
previous. But the identical spot where this 
locality was is a question still left open for 
the investigation of the curious. Authori- 
ties and opinions differ considerably in regard 
to the time when and the place where iron 
was first made in America. It is a well known 
fact that the British Government encouraged 
the manufacture of iron in the colonies at a 
very early day ; but this encouragement, 
however, was confined to the making of pig 
and bar iron only. Even as late as 1750 "Par- 
liament prohibited the erection or continu- 
ance of any mill or other engine for rolling 
or slitting iron in the colonies, under a pen- 
alty of two hundred pounds ;" and soon after 
another act waB passed prohibiting the ex- 
portation from England to this country " of 
tools to make iron." But, notwithstanding 
all these British prohibitions, Salmon, a dis- 
tinguished English author, writing in 1765, 
informs us that " Early in the last century 
many contraband goods were manufactured 
in the colonies and smuggled into the Span- 
ish Islands." 

And, again, Chalmer, a quaint old historian 

of those days, writing in 1673, says : " There 
be five iron works in New England which 
cast no guns." Now it should be borne in 
mind that the New England of those days 
included New Jersey within its bounds ; and 
it is quite li&ely that some of the iron works 
here alluded to had reference, in part at 
least, to those which are known to have been 
established in the Province of East Jersey at 
about that time. In the year 1682 the Pro- 
prietors of East Jersey published to the world 
a brief statement of their affairs at that time. 
Among other statements then made for the 
purpose of inducing emigrants to settle upon 
their lands is the following : " There is al- 
ready a smelting furnace and forge set up in 
this colony, where is made good iron," <fec. 
Gordon, in his history of New Jersey, under 
date of same year, informs us that " Lewis 



11 



Morris, of Barbadoes, bad iron works and 
otber considerable improvements at Shrews- 
bury, Monmoutb county." Tbo kind of iron 
works bere referrad to is not stated ; but tbey 
were probably the same iron works men- 
tioned by tbe Proprietors in their address to 
tbe public of that year. Thomas, in biH his- 
tory of Pennsylvania, published in 1698, says 
that "Preparations were in progress for mak- 
ing iron in Pennsylvania that year." Crump, 
in his " World in a Pocket-Book," says that 
" Iron was first made in America, in tbe Prov- 
ince of Virginia, in 171o :" but he is \ery 
wide of his mark, in hid knowledge on this 
subject, at least. 

We will now return again to tbe considera- 
tion of the first settlement of Old Boonton. 
Ebenezer F. Smith, Esq., of Troy, who is now 
upward of 70 years of age, says that he has 
no particular recollection of ever having 
heard it mentioned at what precise time the 
iron works at Old Boonton were first estab- 
lished ; but he believes that they were among 
the very first established in New Jersey. 
When a boy, however, about sixty years ago, 
he recollects distinctly having heard his 
father say that the forge at Troy, of which 
he was part owner, had been located there 
about one hundred years before, and that he 
supposed that the forges at Old Boonton and 
Whippany had been established at about the 
same time, if not earlier. This would fix 
the dete of these old forges at about the year 
1700. Barber and Howe, however, in their 
Historical Collections of New Jersey, fix the 
date of the first iron works in Hanover town- 
ship some twelve or fifteen years earlier than 
1700, but, unfortunately, do not state the 
exact location ; but, as regards dates, I hold 
that they are nearly correct. The same au- 
thority states that the iron mine at Succa- 
sunna " is the first mine from which iron ore 
was taken in Morris county," but do not give 
the precise date when it was first opened. 
But it is further stated that " prior to the 
year 1717 the ore was free to all comers ;" 
and also "that it was customary in those 
early times to carry the ore to Morristown, 
Hanover and Essex county in leathern bags 
on the backs of horses; and, when manu- 
factured, the iron was transported in the 
same manner over the Orange Mountains to 
Newark." This manner of transporting ore 
from the distant mines was still in vogue, 



aud practiced to a considerable extent, within 
the memory of persons still living, and the 
principal reason for so doing was that they 
could not reach the mines with any other 
kind of conveyance. The land in the vicin- 
ity of the Succasunna mine " was first taken 
up in 1717 by Joseph Kirkbridge, and siuce 
then those who have used the ore have had 
to pay for it." 

Now, would it be at all unreasonable to 
suppose that the old forge at what we now 
term Old Boonton was one of the forges 
named, to which the ore of the Succasunna 
mine was carried * in leathern bags on the 
backs of horses" to be manufactured V And, 
if this be true, then the forge must have been 
established there at least one hundred and 
fifty years ago. Judging from its retired lo- 
cality, its commodious water power and its 
nearness to the mine, I am led to believe that 
the forge at Old Boonton was the very first 
place where iron was made in Morris oounty ; 
and also that this forge and those located at 
Troy and Whippany at about the same time 
constituted what wa3 formerly known as the 
"locality of the old forges." This is about 
the best solution that I am able to offer in 
unriddling the almost impenetrable mystery 
that shrouds the early history of Old Boon- 
ton, which, I fear, is buried in the grave of 
the past, too deep to ever hope for a resurrec 
tion. 

Leaving the further consideration of this 
intricate subject to the investigation of some 
future antiquarian, I shall now proceed to 
discourse upon what may not inappropriately 
bo denominated the historical era of Old 
Boonton. The facts wbich immediately fol- 
low were furnished me by Hon. William A. 
Whitehead, of Newark, who obtained them of 
Hon. James Parker, of Perth Amboy. Mr. 
Parker is one of New Jersey's retired, hon- 
ored veteran statesmen, now over 81 yearn of 
age. He married a daughter of Col. Ogdeu, 
who was born at Old Boonton ; and Mr. 
Whitehead married a daughter of Mr Par- 
ker, and consequently a granddaughter of 
Col. Ogden. Some of Mr Parker's testimony 
is very strong in favor of the point I have 
been endeavoring to establish, viz : that the 
iron works at Old Boonton were among the 
earliest— if not tin wry first — ever erected in 
America. 

We have already shown that the Boonton 



12 



tract was in possessisn of David Ogden, one of 
the most eminent New Jersey lawyers of his 
day, as early as 1759. The earliest informa- 
tion that Mr. Parker is able to furnish ex- 
tends back to about the year 1765, whioh we 
may consider ae authentic. At about that 
date David Ogden presented the Boonton 
tract to his son Samuel, then a mere youth of 
some nineteen or twenty yenrs of age. The 
Col. Samuel Ogden of later times was then 
(1765J a student in Kings College, in New 
York city — after the Revolution Columbia 
College — and, being then in poor healtb, 
" his physician advised his removal to the 
country, and his engagement in some active 
business. Continuing his remarks upon this 
subject, Mr. Parker says : " His fa her gave 
him the Boonton property on condition of 
his removal there and carrying on the works. 
The proposition was accepted, and the son, 
yet a youth, removed to BooDton, probably, 
at first, to learn tbe business." The time of 
the son's removal there must have been prior 
to 1767, for it is known that he was there at 
that date, and that he was shortly after spoken 
of as Col. Ogden, a title which he bore with 
him to the grave. The title of Colonel was 
probably bestowed upon him by his friends 
as a mark of the honor and esteem in which 
he was held by them — for it is not known 

that he was ever engaged in any military ser- 
vice. 

As we have already seen, Col. Ogden came 
to Old Boonton about the year 1766 or 1767 ; 
but what is still more worthy of particular 
notice is the fact that at the time of his first 
coming there iron works had already been 
established on the property. In reply to one 
of my queries aB to the date of the first es- 
tablishment of these works Mr. Parker an- 
swers in the following terms: "How early 
the iron works at Boonton were established 
is not known ; they were in operation when 
Col. Ogd'en went there, and it is probable 
fro a thpir location that they were among the 
earliest establishments of the kind." And 
does not this evidence go far toward confirm- 
ing the opiuion advanced — that the iron 
works at Old Boonton constituted a portion 
of those early settlements which in 1685 was 
denominated the "locality of the old 
forges?" But again Mr. Parker remarks : 
" The iron works at Boonton were established 
long before the Revolution, but were con- 



fined to the manufacture of pig and bar 
iron." So, then, it appears that there waa 
once a blast furnace at Old Boonton, and 
that, too, long before the Revolution, for it is 
from a blast furnace only, I believe, that pig 
iron is made. That blast furnace must have 
been erected there a long time ago, for all 
traces of it have entirely disappeared. There 
is not a single person now living in this sec- 
tion of country who has any recollection 
whatever of any such establishment ever hav- 
ing existed there. Who can now tell but 
this was the same identical " smelting fur- 
nace and forge set up in this coloney in 
which is made good iron," referred to by the 
Proprietors of East Jersey in their publication 
made in 1682 ? That those establishments re- 
ferred to by Mr. Parker, in which pig and 
bar iron were made when Col. Ogden first 
came there, were small and insignificant af- 
fairs, we have but little reason for doubting, 
more especially when we take into considera 
tion the fact that all the ore used at those 
" old forges" was " transported in leathern 
bags on the backs of horses from the distant 
mines." The locality of Old Boonton at that 
time was admirably calculated for carrying 
on secret operations of this description ; and 
I have but little doubt, in my own mind that 
all the works referred to in this discourse, 
and perhaps many other branches, of which 
we know nothing and probably never shall, 
were in successful operation there at a much 
earlier period of our history than any of us 
have ever even dreamed of. 

But, despite the Parliamentary prohibition 
and the heavy penalty attached to its viola- 
tion, it is now a well ascertained fact that 
shortly after he came to Old Boonton Col. 
Ogden erected a rolling-mill aud a slitting- 
inill, and at once commenced the illegal busi- 
ness of rolling and slitting iron. The plot of 
ground upon which they stood is in the form 
of a triangle, is situated on the easterly bank 
of the Rockaway river, contains six acres, 
and was purchased by Col. Ogden of Tnomas 
Peer by deed bearing date August 6th, 1770. 
The price paid for it was one pound of tea — 
at least so I have been informed by Mr. Abra- 
ham Peer, a graudson of the Thomas afore- 
said. At the time this conveyance was made 
there was & foot-bridge across the river near 
those mills, and this was the only bridge of 
any description across the river at Old Boon- 
ton at that time. 



13 



The slitting-mill here referred to was built 
for Col. Ogden by an Englishman named 
Thomas Cutnson, and I think that I him safe 
in Buying that it was the first mill <>f the kind 
ever erected on the American continent. Thin 
mill, however, did not work well at first, and 
Mr. Cnmson was dispatohed to England for 
the purpose of ascertaining wherein the de- 
ficiency existed. On his arrival there he vis- 
ited several establishments of the kind and 
made the important discovery ; but, the ob- 
ject of his mission being suspected, his move- 
ments were closely watched ; and, fearing 
that it was the design of the Government to 
arrest him, he was compelled to disguise him- 
self and hasten his return to this country. 
The important secret which he crossed the 
Atlantic to discover consisted in the applica- 
tion of a little soft suet to the slitting saw ! 
Shortly after his return to this country Mr. 
Cumson left Old Boonton for the purpose of 
constructing similar works in Maryland ; 
but, the Americau Revolution breaking out 
at about this time, it is doubtlul it he accom- 
plished his object at that time. 

The rolling and slitting business being so 
strongly prohibited by Great Britain, opera- 
tions of the kind had to be carried on with 
great caution and secrecy. On this point Mr. 
Parker thus good-naturedly remarks : " I 
have heard Col. O^den mention the fact of 
some gentlemen" — British officials, no doubt 
— " being at Boonton and viewing the works, 
who did not s^e the slitting mill, which was 
kept very private. My impression is that 
the gentlemen shut their eyes intentionally." 
Tradition informs us that Col. Ogden was a 
shrewd man, and what is termed a " good 
liver;" and it was.no doubt, owing to his 
princely hospitality that he escaped arrest on 
ihe occasion referred to. Rov. Joseph F. 
Tuttle, ot Rockaway, in reply to one of my 
queries on this point, refers to the old slitting- 
niill in the following language : " The slit- 
ting-mill was carried on with great secrecy. 
The upper part was said to be a small grist- 
mill, which was put in operation to blind the 
eyes of the suspicious." This corresponds 
exactly with the acouut given by Mr. Par- 
ker, and is probably as near the truth as it is 
now possible to get at it. Tne pame gentle- 
man informs me that " Gov. William Frank- 
lin once visited Old Boonton." Gov. Frank- 
lin was the " degenerate son of a noble sire," 



and the laRt Colonial Governor of New Jer- 
sey. What his business was at Old Boon- 
Mr. Tuttle does not state ; but it is quito 
probable that be whs there for the purpose of 
enjoying the splendid hospitality ol Col. Og- 
din, and of prying out the secrets by which 
he made an honest living. Perhaps that be 
was one of the gentlemen who shut their 
eyes intentionally to avoid seeing the old 
slitting mill. At any rate, it appears that 
all those gentlemen who came there to spy 
out the fruitf ulness of the land left Old Boon- 
ton no iciser, if any better men, than they 
were when they first came there. But let 
that pass. 

That Old Boonton was a busy, bustling 
business place while Col. Ogden resided there 
we may well believe, for he was a thorough- 
going business man himself, and intimately 
connected with the first families of the coun- 
try ; and, seeing that his name is more inti- 
mately associated with the place than any 
other during its early history, I deem it ap- 
propriate now and here to give a somewhat 
detailed account of himself and family. The 
Ogden family have been celebrated in the 
history of both New York and New Jersey 
for a period of more than two hundred years. 
Persons of that name emigrated from Hol- 
land to New York at a very early day. In 
1642 John and Richard Ogden were engaged to 
build the first church edifice ever erected in 
New York. The building was constructed of 
stone, was 52x72 feet in its dimensions, 10 
feet in height, and cost $2,088. In the year 
1G0-4 this same John Ogden — probably — pur- 
chased of Daniel Denton his share of the In- 
dian title to an immense tract of land in East 
Jersey, upon a part of which Boonton now 
stands. In the year 17G3 Hannah Ogden, 
daughter of John Ogden, Esq , of Newark, 
was united in marriage to Rev. James Cald- 
well, a distinguished martyr in the caase of 
American Liberty. It was the usual custom 
of this true and zealous patriot during the 
Revolution to preach patriotism to his con- 
gregation from his pulpit in Elizabethtown, 
with a loaded pistol lying on each side of his 
Bible. He was finally murdered by the Brit- 
ish while visiting at the house of a friend in 
SpringfiVld. Hon. David Ogden was one of the 
most eminent lawyers of his time, and his name 
is honorably connected with some of the great- 
est contested law-suits that occurred in New 



14 



Jersey prior to the Revolution. He had his 
law office in Newark in 1748, and stood at the 
head of the New Jersey bar at that time. 
Hon. Richard Stockton, father of our Com- 
modore R. F. Stockton, a signer of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, and one of the emi- 
nent men of the Revolution, studied law in 
Newark with Mr. Ogden. The great David 
Ogden had three sons, Isaac, Abraham and 
Samuel, all men of note in their day. Each 
of these sons named one of their sons alter 
their father, as follows : David Ogden, Jr., 
David A. Ogden and David Boonton Ogden. 
David B. Ogden was the eldest son of our 
Samuel Ogden, owner of the Boonton tract 
in 1766. Robert Ogden, Esq., was Speaker 
ot the House of Assembly of the Province of 
New Jersey in 1766. Isaac Ogden, Esq., was 
one of the deputies from Essex county to the 
Provincial Congres during May, June and 
August, 1775, and Lewis Ogden, Esq., of the 
same county, was elected a deputy to the 
same body in September, 1775. 

On the fifth day of February, 1775, Colonel 
Samuel Ogden was married to Miss Euphemia 
Morris, a daughter of Hon. Lewis MorriB, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and afterward an officer in the 
Continental army. The late Hon. David B. 
Ogden, the eldest child of Col. Ogden, was 
born at Morrissania, WestcheBter county, N. 
Y., at the residence of Lewis Morris, his 
grandfather. " The Colonel then," says Mr. 
Parker, ,c made Boonton his permanent 
residence, and his five next children were 
born there." The Hon. David B. Ogden, 
whose middle name — Boonton — was given 
him in honor of his father's residence, stood 
at the head of the New York bar at the time 
of his death. He died suddenly of the chol- 
era at his residence on Staten Island in the 
Summer of 1851, at the advanced age of 75 
years. Gertrude, one of the daughters of 
Col. Ogden, was married to a geutleman 
named Meredith, who belonged to one of the 
oldest and most respectable families of Phila- 
delphia ; and Catharine, another of the 
daughters, was married to the Hon. James 
Parker, the gentleman to whom I am in- 
debted for much of the valuable information 
contained in this discourse. Mr. and Mrs. 
P xrker now reside in Perth Amboy, in this 
State, and are aged respectively 84 and 81 
years. Of the other three children of Col. 



Ogden, Sarah, Euphemia and Lewis Morris 
— all born at Old Boonton — I know nothing 
further than their names — Mrs. Parker, I 
believe, is the only child of Col. Ogden's now 
living. The Colonel and his family contin- 
ued to reside at Old Boonton until the year 
1783, at which time he removed to New 
York. In the year 1787 he removed thence 
to Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and in the 
year 1792 he removed thence to Newark, 
New Jersey, at which place he died in 
18:0, aged 64 years. The old mansion-house 
at Old Boonton — one of the most costly and 
magnificent in Morris county at that time — in 
which he entertained with unbounded hospi- 
tality b«th friend and foe, still remains there, 
a sad and melancholy monument of its former 
greatness and splendor. 

When Col. Ogden removed to New York 
in 1783 he left the management of the Old 
Boonton works in oharge of John Jacob 
Faish, Sr., who acted in that capacity until 
his death, which occurred in 1799. After 
his death his two sons — John Jacob, Jr., and 
Richard B. — took charge of the works until 
the year 1805, when they became the joint 
owners of the property. The Faishes were 
all men of mark in their day, and, as their 
hiBtory is more or less blended with that of 
Old Boonton, I deem it proper in this con- 
nection to give a brief sketch of the family. 
Most of the following details were furnished 
me by Doctor R. V. W. Fairchild, of Parsip- 
pany, who is a distant relative of the family. 
The Doctor instructs me to spell the name 
Faesch ; but I have adopted a different 
course, being fully impressed with the belief 
that I am correct. I have in my possession 
an old copy of the Laws of New Jersey, for- 
merly belonging to the elder Faish, upon the 
outside of which is inscribed the name " J. 
J. Faish, Esquire," which I presume to be in 
his own handwriting. 

John Jacob Faish, Sr., came from the can- 
ton of Basil, in Switzerland, to this country 
in the year 1764. He came over for the pur- 
pose of superintending the iron works of the 
London company, which were located at 
Ringwood, Mount Hope and Hibernia. Short- 
ly after his arrival here he married Miss 
Brinkerhoof, a sister of the late George D. 
Brinkerhoof, of Parsippany. On the 1st of 
February, 1773, he purchased the Mount 
Hope works, and commenced doing business 



15 



on hie own account ; but, the war of the 
Revolution breaking out soon after, be be- 
came embarrassed in bis business operations, 
and bad to sell out. In 1783, however, wu 
find him at Old Boonton, superintending tbe 
works tbere for Col. Otfden. His wife died 
in 1788, and be hiuiBelf died in 17UD, leaving 
tbreo children, two sons aud one daughter. 
His two Bona then succeeded him in the man- 
agement of the works at Old Boonton, re 
maining in that capacity until 1805, when 
they themselves became the joint owners of 
the works located there. John Jacob Faisb, 
Jr. died in 1809, and Richard B. Faisb died 
in 1820. I can traoe out but little respecting 
the career of the daughter of old John Jacob ; 
bat my impression is that she was not con- 
sidered sound of mind, and that she died 
quite young and unmarried. All the Faishes 
were buried in the old Presbyterian burying 
ground ai Morristown. Judge Cobb, of Par- 
si ppany, informs me that John Jacob, Jr., 
was a gentleman of fine intellectual endow- 
ments, and that he was the first regularly ed- 
ucated lawyer in Morris county. Richard B. 
was also a gentleman of liberal education, 
and waB one of the judges of Morris county 
at the time of bis death. He was, as I recol- 
lect him, a very social and gentlemanly man 
in his conversation and manners — was what 
we term a fast liver, and died insolvent. 
Doctor Grimes, of this place, informs me that 
his. body was arrested on an execution for 
debt on its way to burial. 

The following reminiscences of Old Boon- 
ton were furnished me by Thomas C. Willis, 
Esq., of Powerville. Mr. Willis is now 
70 years of age, and was born at Old Boon- 
ton. This is his description of tbe works 
carried on there about the year 1800, as he 
recollects them : At that time there were 
a rolling-mill, a slitting mill and a saw-mill, 
all standing in the woods on the easterly 
bank of the river. The iron used in these 
mills was taken from the heating furnaces, 
rolled and slitted on a single heat. Mr. Wil- 
lis's father was superintendent of this depart- 
ment of the works for a long number of 
years, extending back several years prior to 
that date. On the westerly bank of the 
river, near the bend, was a large potash 
factory, a nail-cutting factory, a grist- 
mill and a blacksmith shop. On the 
same side of the river, nearly opposite 



thu slitting-mill, stood a largo bloomory, con 
tainiug four forge fi reB and two trip-hummers. 
A large buildiDg, containing eight refining 
furnaces, stood upon tbe spot where the lorge 
now stands. The pig iron made at thu Mount 
Hope and llibernia blast furnaces whh brought 
down there, rolled, slit into nail rods, and 
manufactured into nails, or sent in the rods 
to the New York market. Mr. Willis in- 
clines to the opinion that the Boonton, Mount 
Hope and Hiberuia works all belonged to the 
same company at that time. There were 
then three dams across the river a' Old Boon- 
ton, and upon what are now termed the 
" Boonton Flats " were located some twelve 
or fifteen dwelling-houses. Most of the 1oi>b 
used at the saw-mill were cut in the Rocka- 
way valley, and floated down the river during 
the high freshets. There was a small church 
aud a schoolhouse standing on the rising 
ground on the easterly side of the road, and 
directly in front of the eld mansion house. 
It is generally believed by old eettlers that 
this church and schoolhouse were built by 
Col. Ogden shortly before the Revolution. 
This church was torn down in 1816, and the 
timber of which it was composed was used 
in the construction of the first chuich erected 
in Montville. This church was also torn 
down a few years ago, and some of the tim- 
ber of which it was composed, after passing 
through two churches, is now doing duty in 
our new "United States Hotel." There was 
a great freshet in the Rockaway river about 
sixty years ago, which o*rried away all the 
dams and moat of the dwelling-houses located 
on the " Flats." It is not at all improbable 
but that this great flood may likewise have 
swept away all the remaining monuments of 
the old blast furnace, which was in full blant 
at Old Boonton long before Col. Ogden came 
there. There has been no blast furnace there 
within the memory of Mr. Willis, and he is 
firm in his belief that no auch establishment 
ever existed there ; but then, again, we have 
the positive evidence of Mr. Parker that bar 
and pig iron was made there long prior to 
Col. Ogden'a day. 

Happening accidentally to come acroas a 
bundle of old letters from officera of the 
United States Army, directed to the late Col. 
John Scott, at the " Boone-Toicn Post Office," 
during the years 1812-'13-'14-'15, I very nat- 
urally came to the conclusion that there must 



16 



have been a post office at Old Boonton at that 
time. I immediately made inquiries of sev- 
eral very old persons in the neighborhood as 
to their knowledge of such an institution; 
but not one of them could throw any light 
upon the subject. I even applied to a gen- 
tleman who had written one of the letters 
referred to; but he positively disclaimed all 
knowledge of such an establishment. Think- 
ing that it would be downright folly for a 
person to direct a letter to an office where no 
such office existed, I made up my mind that I 
would thoroughly investigate the matter. 
With this purpose in view, I addressed a 
note of inquire to the Postmaster General of 
the United States, and the following is his 

reply : 

Post Office Department, ) 
August 9th, 1859. J 

Sir : In answer to your note of 27th July I have to 
inform you that, fiom the fire in 1 830 . which con- 
sumed the General Post Office, three of the oldest 
record boots in the Department were destroyed, 
which renders it very difficult to determine the exact 
date of the establishment of most of the oldest 
offices; but on referring to the books in the Audit- 
or's office it appears that quarterly returns were 
made lrom the Boonton office as early as July, 1795, 
and that Rodolphus Kpnt was the first postmaster, 
who was succeeded by Richard B. Faish some time 
in the Spring of 1793. On the 3d of February, 1817, 
the name of the office was changed to Parsippan . , 
which is still in operation. So it appears in the early 
history of Boonton that an office by this name was es- 
tablished during the Spring of 1795, and continued in 
operation under Mr. Kent and Mr. Paish till the 3d 
of February, 1817, when the name was changed to 
Parsippany. 

Trusting that the foregoing information will be of 
some avail to you In the work you have in progress, 
I remain very respectfully, 

John B. L. Skinner, 
Acting First Ass't P. M. General. 

In addition to the facts furnished by Mr. 
Willis, Mr. Abraham Peer communicates the 
following. Mr. Peer is now about 85 years 
of age, and when a young man used to work 
at Old Boonton. He was well acquainted 
with Ccl. Ogden and all the Faishes. He 
does not recollect the exact date, but he says 
that nails cut by a machine and headed by 
hand were made at Oid Boonton before the 
year 1800, and that there was a tin and sheet 
iron manufactory in operation in the upper 
part of the nail factory. He was informed at 
the time he first went there to work, shortly 
after the Revolution, that the tin and sheet 
iron business had been commenced there a 
great many years before. He is quite certain 



that Col. Ogden built the mansion house, the 
church, the schoolhouse, and most of the 
other buildings that still remain, shortly after 
he came there. A very large building, used 
for a storehouse (which I recollect perfectly 
w>dl having seen there when a small boy), 
stood on a portion of the dooryard, a few 
rods below the mansion house, and directly 
opposite the present bridge — the old bridge 
having stood a little lover down the river. 
The post offici — which he had entirely forgot- 
ten until I reminded bim of it — was kept in 
the store, and it was the first and only estab- 
lishment of the kind that he had ever seen or 
heard of up to that time. Mr. Peer has no 
recollection whatever of ever having heard 
that a blast furnace had been in operation at 
Old Boonton, but thinks it highly probable 
that such might have been the case — for even 
at that early day the place presented many 
evidences of being on the decline. About 
thirty years ago one Thomas Hood, an Eng- 
lishman, erected a kind of cupola furnace 
there for the late Capt. William Scott for the 
purpose of refining pig and scrap iron. It 
had a very tall chimney, and was nicknamed 
" The Wren's Nest ;" but, seeipg that it did 
not answer the purpose for which it had 
been erected, it was soon after demolished. 
The first blacksmith shop that Mr, Peer ever 
saw was located at Old Boonton ; it was under 
the management of one Daniel Thomas, who 

had the reputation of .being a very superior 
workman. 

It is believed by some of our oldest inhab- 
itants that there was once a pin factory at 
Oid Boonton, and there are some very good 
grounds for entertaining euch a belief. 
Some fifty years and more ago an old resi- 
dent of the name of Peer discovered near the 
location of the old blacksmith shop what 
might very properly be denominated a pin 
mine. These pins were of the old style, brass 
wire, ring head, English manufacture, and 
were found by Mr. Peer scattered around on 
top of the ground in wild profusion, It is 
said thit Mr. Peer supplied his family with 
abundance of pins from this mine for quite a 
number of years, and that, too, at a time 
when pins were much scarcer and dearer than 
they are now. Such being the fact, the 
great question to decide is, how and when 
did such large quantities of pins find their 
road to this out-of-the-way place ? Probably 



17 



the moat reasonable answer to this qaeatlon 
would be tbat they were made tbere, else 
how should they have been found tbere in 
such large quantities, and in one particular 
place only ? Within my own memory pins 
were a luxury not to be indulged in to any 
exteut by poor people. It was still the cus- 
tom when I was a small boy, among young 
ladies of respectability, to fasten their 
dresses and paper up their curls with common 
thorns of no pigmy dimensions. Pins were 
then sold at from three to Jive cents a row, 
and w*re deemed too expensive to use— ex- 
cept on Sundays and holidays — especially by 
full-grown girls, who had to spin ten hours a 
day for a single York shilling. The manu 
facture of pins as a regular business was first 
introduced into England about the year 1026, 
and it is within the bounds of possibility thst 
some enterprising Englishman, for the pur- 
pose of avoiding the heavy duty imposed 
upon the manufacture of pins in Eugland, 
might have emigrated to America and estab- 
lisbed a small pin factory at Old Boonton 
while the country was yet in a wilderness 
state. The pinmaking business at tbat time 
required but a small capital, and by evading 
the English duty they might have been 
smuggled into the Spanish Islands with a 
princely profit to the manufacturer. The 
large quantities of pins found at Old Boonton 
would naturally lead us to believe that, in 
cose a pin factory ever existed there, it must 
have t>een burned down many years ago, 
either by accident or to avoid detection. 

There is a tradition current about here, 
which is fully believed by many old persons, 
that camp kettles and other munitions of war 
were manufactured at Old Boonton for the 
use of the Continental army during the Rev- 
olution — a fact of which I have no doubt in 
my own mind. When we take into consid- 
ration its location, and the character of the 
works which we know were secretly carried 
on there, we have but little cause to doubt 
that such was the fact. Dr. Fairchild in- 
forms me that he has often heard bis grand- 
mother Brinkerhoof talk about these thing! 
as matters of secret family history at that 
time; but Mr. Parker, in treating upon the 
subject, seems to think it " rather an improb- 
able story." Morristown and Pompton were 
both military stations at various periods dur- 
ing the Revolution ; and, seeing that Old 



Boonton is situated about midway between 
the two places on the main thoroughfare by 
which they were connected at tbat time, 
makes the supposition that such articles were 
manufactured there seem more than proba- 
ble. Besides, and in furtherance of the con- 
firmation of this tradition, Mr. Willis in- 
forms me that about twenty-five years ago 
he resided for a short time in the old Boonton 
mansion. And he further informs me tbat at 
tlie time he resided tbere there were lying in 
the open garret of the house large bundles 
of old letters and other manuscript docu- 
ments, containing the signatures of Wash- 
ington, Hamilton, Oreene, Lafayette, Ster- 
ling, and many other distinguished ( ffioers 
of the Revolution, directed to Col. Ogden and 
John Jacob Faisb, Sr. He spent many pleas- 
ant hours in perusing tbtse old docuim-nte, 
and now deeply regrets that he had not taken 
measures to preserve them. Most of these 
old letters w. re of a purely business charac- 
ter, and he distinctly remembers tbat many 
of them contained orders and proposals for 
famishing the army with camp kettles, can- 
non balls, horse shoes and other munitions of 
war ; and he is decided in his belie' tbat suoh 
articles were furnished by Col. Ogden from 
the works at Old Boenton. Could I bave had 
access to those invaluable old documents, 
which are now irretrievably lost, I doubt not 
but that I should be able to throw much 
more light upon the early history of Old 
Boonton, and perhaps add a few more bright 
pages to the secret history of the American 
Revolution. 

Although I have never seen any statement 
of the circumstance in an authentic form, 
the opinion has generally obtained belief in 
this section of country that, during his differ- 
ent encampments at Morristown, Washington 
was in the habit of occasionally visiting Col. 
Ogden at Old Boonton. Having questioned 
Mr. Parker upon the subject, he returLed me 
the following brief reply : " Mrs. Parker 
has heard her father and mother speak of 
visits to Boonton by Gen. Washington and 
Mrs. Washington." This, then, sets the 
question forever at rest, and this fact of it- 
self goes far towards strengthening us in the 
belief that Old Boonton, under the manage 
ment of Col. Ogden, was true to the cause of 
American Liberty, and that she furnished 
munitions of war for the Continental army 



18 



daring the dark days of the Revolution. 
And is not this something of which we 
should all feel proud, to know that Washing- 
ion, whose fame shall continue to brighten 
the pages of the world's history through all 
the coming centuries, until ocean tides shall 
cease to ebb and flow, was once an honored 
guest of our venerable mother, Old Boonton ? 
Any spot upon American soil that has ever 
been visited by the august presence of that 
great and good man should ever be looked 
upon by the student of American history as 
classic ground, and be held in everlasting re- 
membrance, and loved and honored by us all. 
Would to God that the walls of that old 
Boonton mansion could again become instinct 
with its hoarded old memories, and had a 
tongue of fire wherewith to blaze forth to 
the world the hidden secrets which have so 
long laid buried beneath its venerable roof. 
Would to God that the disembodied spirit of 
some one of those old patriots who were ac- 
customed to assemble around the hearthstone 
of that ancient and time-stained old mansion 
"in the days that tried men's souls" could 
again revisit its earthly abodes and detail to 
us the history of the secret transactions 
which transpired at Old Boonton between 
the years 1776 and 1783. Who can now tell 
how many plans of "battles, lost and won," 
how many "plots and counter-plots" to 
achieve our independence had their origin 
beneath the friendly roof of the grand old 
mansion ? Old Boonton being located in the 
midst of a dark, dense forest, far removed 
from the pride and pomp of city life, no 
place could have heen found more admirably 
lifted for secret consultations of this kind. 
Here the man of deep thought and war strat- 
agems might "concoct plots and brew trea- 
son" without any fear of being suddenly dis- 
turbed; and that such important consulta- 
tions were occasionally held in that historic 
old mansion I do most candi ily believe. 
Washington was always a clear, cool-headed, 
thoughtful man, always husbanding his lim- 
ited resources until he Baw a chance of strik- 
ing a decisive blow with hopes of certain suc- 
cess ; and it is quite possible that he might 
have had the rugged and heavily wooded hills 
of Old Boonton in his eye as a place of re- 
treat in case he should had been attacked by 
a superior force and had to evacuate his po- 
sition at Morristown. 



The ancient rustic burying ground at Old 
Boonton must not be forgotten in this dis- 
course. This ancient burial place, containing 
the dead of Old Boonton, is situated on the 
hillside, in the southerly corner of the old 
orchard adjoining the County House farm. 
This ground bears evidence of many persons 
having been interred there in times long 
past, but how long probably will never be 
known. The spot is now thickly overgrown 
with large trees and underbrush, and but few 
signs donating the character of the place now 
remain. Bough, unhewn stones, ot various 
sizes, indicate the presence of some forty or 
fifty graves; but whose ashes slumber be- 
neath the now sunken clods will only be 
known when the last trumpet sounds and the 
"graves give up their dead." One single, 
solitary lettered tombstone now marks the 
long neglected spot, and probably none 
others were ever erected there. This stone 
is erected in memory of Hannah, wife ot 
Isaac Legget, who died in 1782. Many of 
the other graves bear strong evidence of hav- 
ing been made at a much earlier period, 
and the reasonable probability is that this 
ground was first used as a burial place con- 
siderably over one hundred years ago. The 
fact of a tombstone being erected there 
more than seventy-five years ago may be ac- 
cepted as pretty conclusive evidence that the 
person to whose memory it was erected was a 
person of some considerable distinction, for 
a handsome brown stone tombstone was 
quite an expensive article in those days. And 
does not this single fact of itself — the fact of 
there being such a large number of old un- 
known graves there — and there may have 
been twice the number that I have mentioned 
— prove beyond the Bhadow of a doubt that 
Old Boonton must have beeu settled at a 
very early period in our country's history ? 

A few words respecting the old mansion- 
house and I have done with this branch of 
my discourse. This unique old pile must 
have been erected nearly a hundred years 
ago, for the memory of man runneth not to 
the contrary of the time of its standing there. 
At any rate it is a very old building, and its 
roof has given shelter to some of the great- 
est men that have ever blessed the world 
with their presence. What were its condi- 
tion and appearance at the time Col. Ogden 
resided there I have not been able to learn ; 



19 



but that the grounds around it were greatly 
beautified and improved by the Faiehes is a 
matter of certainty. My first visit to Old 
BoontOO occurred some forty odd years ago, 
and I can truly say that I was greatly do- 
lighted with its appearance. Richard B 
Faisb, Erq., a gentleman whom I have often 
seen, then resided there. To my youthful 
and inexperienced eyes the scene spread out 
before me seemeu a perfect paradise. It wan 
certaiDly the most charming aud enrapturing 
sight that I had ever witnessed, for i 
thing was in the lull bloom of early Summer 
time. Even the old mansion-house, which 
had just been decked with a new coat of 
paint, looked fresh and new. Serpentine 
pleasure walks, studded on either Bide with 
v-rdani. and aromatic shrubbery, extended 
along the hillside, even up to the main road. 
The gardens, which were extensive and hand- 
somely laid out, were filled with choice fruit 
trees and flowering shrubbery. The outbuild- 
ings were numerous and in good condition, 
and everything looked bright aud cheerlul. 
Gushing fountains aud vine-clad arbors were 
interspersed here and there throughout all 
those richly embellished grounds, giving to 
the whole enchanting scene a novel and fairy, 
like appearance. The whole magnificent 
scene still remains pictured upon my memory 
like a beautiful vision coniured up in the 
land of dreams as if witnessed yesterday. 
Bjit Time, the great destroyer of human 
hopes and earthly joys, has at last performed 
its work of ruin and desolation, and the fairy 
scene witnessed nearly half a century ago has 
fled, never more to return. Most of ttie out- 
buildings have entirely disappeared, and the 
venerable and weather-beaten old mansion it- 
self now looks like a " banquet hall desert- 
ed." Well may the thoughtful visitor, as 
he roams through the dilapidated halls of 
this once sumptuous and magnificent abode, 
exclaim, Bit ti <>n.8it gloria mundi ! 

Shortly after the death of Richard B. Faish, 
in 1820, the Old Boonton property passed 
into the hands of Israel Crane, of < rane- 
towD, and Captain William Scott, o; Power- 
ville. During its possession by them great 
improvements were attempted there ; but 
when the magnilicent dam across the river, 
which had been constructed by them at an 
expense of $'20,000, was destroyed by a de- 
structive freshet i hey ceased further Improve- 
ment* there. Mr. Crane dying shortly after, 
the Old Boonton property, such as it 
pitsswd into the possession of the late John 
Kighter. It now belongs to Mr. Charles A. 
Righter, that is, the old mansion-house and 



about two hundred acres of land, and the 
workB at present carried on there consist of 
an old dilapidated forge aud a good grist- 
mill. 

It will thus be seen that Old Boonton led 
the van iu the cause, of civilisation and im- 
provement in this section of the country; that 
■he had her church and sclioolhouse near- 
ly a century ago ; that she enjoyed 
the benefits of a poBt-olfice — established 
under the administration of Washing- 
ton — fir tmenty-two yearn without any one 
at tho premnl lav ever knowing it. We are 
all very anxious to enjoy the prosperous pres- 
!,, and Btill more impatient to behold the 
brighter future ; but there are but few 
among us who are willing to spend their 
precious time in turning back to view the 
point from which we started. The scenes and 
incidents of the grand old past have but few 
charms for the eye of our popular Mr. Mod- 
ern Improvements. 

And, now, what are the deductions to be 
drawn from the foregoing testimony respect- 
ing the former glories of Old Boonton, im- 
perfect as it is ? In summing up our cause it 
would be difficult for us to arrive at any other 
than the following conclusions : That Old 
Boonton was one of the first places settled in 
Morris country ; that the first dam ever 
thrown across the Rockaway river was at 
Old Boonton, and that one of the first — if not 
the very fir at — iron works ever established in 
the British colonies in America was at Old 
Boonton. Or, in other words, that the first 
forge, the firBt blast furnace, the first rolling- 
mill, the first slitting-mill, the first iron re- 
finery, the first tin and sheet iron works, the 
first nail factory, the first grist-mill, the first 
saw-mill, the first potash works, the first 
church, the first schoolhouse, the first post 
office, and possibly the first pin factory ever 
located in this section of Morris county, were 
located at Old Boonton. Surely this is glory, 
enough for any little spot to boast of, and 
for one I say all honor and glory, fame and 
renown, to our good ol i mother, now, hence- 
forth and forevermore ! As her children, we 
ought to feel proud of our lineage, and grate- 
ful for the inheritance of a familv name 
around whose old homestead cluster'such a 
Los, of thrilling old memories. Henceforth, 
then, let us look upon Old Boonton as we 
would upon the grave of an old and valued 
friend, aud whenever we tread upon her old 
historic soil, now strewn with the ruins of 
her departed greatness, let us feel that we 
Btaud upon classic ground — yea, even upon 
ground once hallowed by the footprints of 
the Uod-given Father of his Country : 



PART SECOND. 



BO O N TO N. 



September 28, 1867. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : You have 
been invited to assemble here this evening 
for the purpose of listening to a somewhat 
detailed historical sketch of Boonton — to 
ruminate over its past struggles and rejoice 
over its present prosperity. Always curious 
in all matters relating to my native State, I 
have long entertained a strong desire to make 
myself more familiar than I have been with 
the past and present history of the beautiful 
and renowned little village in whioh we 
dwell. To any man of an intelligent and in- 
quiring mind I know of no one thing more 
to be desired than a correct knowledge of the 
rise and progress of the place in wbich he 
has reared his earthly habitation, and which 
he designs shall become the abode of his 
children in future times. That some of you 
will smile at my simplicity when I attempt 
to delineate to yon the history of a village 
whose rapid growth is familiar to most or. 
you I have no doubt ; but still I trust that 
before I have concluded this imperfect dis- 
course I shall have convinced a few of you, 
at least, that the annals of this beautiful and 
romantic little hillside village are not en- 
tirely devoid of inteiest. Although scarcely 
yet out of her teens, Boonton already pre- 
sents to the eye of the oareful observer many 
of the natural and healthful developments of 
matronly grace and dignity ; and why should 
not her many attractions be chronicled be- 
fore they shall have passed forever into ob- 
livion ? 

On last Saturday evening I tried to enter- 
tain you with a protracted historical iketch 



of Old Boonton. To-night I come to speak 
to you about Boonton — the Boonton in which 
we dwell, and in which lie centred all our 
hopes of future happiness and advancement. 
Only thirty-six short years ago, and the 
ground upon which Boonton now stands was 
a dense and almost impenetrable forest. It 
was then called Boonton Falls, to distinguish 
it from Boonton, the Old Boonton of the 
present day. At that time the ground upon 
which Boonton now stands contained but one 
solitary log house, which stood near the spot 
now occupied by the residence of Mr. James 
Holmes, superintendent of the upper nail 
factory, now the corner of Main and Church 
streets. This house (the old log house) was 
then occupied by a poor family of the name 
of Fredricks. Some of the fruit trees plant- 
ed there at that time are still in existence, 
and are yet good fruit bearers. The only public 
thoroughfare then running through the 
place was an old mountain road, whioh wound 
its serpentine course up from the house of 
the late Tunis Peer to the old Fredricks 
mansion, thence along up by the Presbyte- 
rian church, the Methodist church, the old 
Norway place, and thence up over the hills 
through what was called the "Dark Woods" 
to the road leading from Powerville to Tay- 
lortown. Some traces of this road still re- 
mained near my own residence at the time of 
my return here in 1855, but they have now all 
disappeared. 

Boonton was then (1830) one of the wild- 
est, rockiest, briariest and most romantic 
places that the mind of man could imagine ; 
and could a man have been found foolhardy 



21 



enough to have prophesied that it would 
ever have become the place that it is even 
now, he would have been pronounced a lu- 
natic of the most incurable kind, and hurried 
off to a madhouse with all possible dispatch. 
Then the solemn stillness of nature was sel- 
dom broken by the sound of human voice, 
and many a wild tiower budded, bloodied and 
died unseen. The impetuous old Itockaway 
dashed along over its rocky bed, sinking the 
same wild Boug it had been accustomed to 
sing thousands of years before, and from 
many a tangled thicket along itBmoBsy banks, 
where erst the red man'B prayer of supplica- 
tion ascended to the Great Spirit, broke forth 
the evening vespers ot the feathered' choir. 
The sportive little squirrel chirruped from 
tree to tree through all the livelong day ; the 
ferocious wolf made " night hideous" with 
its incessant bowlings, the echoes of which 
died away among the distant mountains, and 
no one came to molest or make him afraid. 
Throughout all this wild and picturesque re- 
gion but few tracer, of civilization appeared, 
and they were of the rudest and most un- 
sightly description. The sharp crack ot the 
huntsman's lifl", the booming sound of the 
distant forge hammer, the occasional strokes 
of the woodchopper'e ax, the gentle tinkling 
of the musical old cow-bell, the loud aud 
boisterous song of the lonely and benighted 
muleteer, and the ever hymning voice of the 
adjacent water fall — these were the only 
humanizing sounds that disturbed the solemn 
etilluess of nature. 

But I must hasten on with my facts and 
figures, for I have many of them yet in store 
for the present occasion. As the poet has 
truly remarked, 

"Great oafes from little acorne grow ;" 
and the simplest and most insignificant causes 
oftentimes produced the most startling and 
sublime effects. The falling of an apple led 
Newton to inveotigate the laws of attraction 
and repulsion, and even this great American 
Continent was discovered by the merest ac 
cident. But few of you, I presume, are even 
acquainted with the name of the gentleman 
to whose genius aud exertions this pleasant 
and prosperous little village is indebted for 
its existence ; for, in this go-ahead age of 
bustle and strife, but few give themselves the 
trouble to trace out the laws and affinities 
that join cause and effect. 



Id the year 1831 George P. M'Cullock, 
Erq , a prominent citizen of MorriBtown, was 
the man who tirnt conceived the bold and 
original design of constructing the Morris 
canal. The plausibility of achieving this 
great work manifested itself to his far-seeing 
vislOD, while himself and a party of gentle- 
men were enjoying a fishing excursion at 
Hopatcong Lake, more generally known as 
Brooklyn Pond. The idea of executing this 
grand and novel enterprise had been no 
sooner conceived by Mr. McCullock than he 
set all his intellectual energies at work to 
have his plans carried into execution. He 
immediately applied to the State for aid. and 
by an act of the Legislature of New Jersey, 
passed November 22d, 1822, G. P. M'Cullock, 
Charles Kinsey and Thomas Capner, Erqs., 
were appointed commissioners and fully cm- 
powered to examine into the plausibility of 
the -undertaking. They were authorized to 
" employ a scientific engineer aud surveyor 
to explore, survey and level the moBt prac- 
ticable route tor tl,i* canal." These commis- 
sioners made a favorable repor- in 1823, and 
on the 31st of December, 1824, an act was 
passed incorporating a private company, with 
a capital of $1,000,000, to carry out the pro- 
ject. The work was soon after commenced, 
and the canal was completed to Newark in 
August, 1831. Shortly after granting the 
canal charter the New Jersey Iron Company 
was incorporated, and having purchased this 
portion of the Boonton property, with all its 
rights and water privileges (as well as cer- 
tain water privileges of the canal company), 
the company soon thereafter commenced the 
erection of very extensive iron works here 
They began their manufacturing operations 
at about the time the canal was completed. 

Now, it is quite certain and plain to be 
seen that, had there been no Morris canal, 
there would have been no iron works located 
here by the New Jersey Iron Company, and if 
these works had never been established here 
the ground upon which Boonton now stands 
would, in all human probability, have still 
remained in its old primeval state. Hence 
it will at once be seen that Mr. M'Cullock's 
far-seeing vision was the indirect cause of 
the first settlement of this place. His pleas- 
ure-seeking fishing excursion to Brooklyn 
Pond was the cuuse, and the beautiful and 
thriving village of Boonton is the efft<.t. 



22 



The village of Boonton is situated on a 
rocky hillside eminence, on the easterly side 
of the Rockaway river, about one mile north 
of Old Boonton. The ground upon which it 
stands is very uneven, rising abruptly to the 
height of some 150 to 200 feet above the 
level of the river. Like a city standing upon 
a high hill, its beauties cannot be hid. Stand- 
ing upon its upper heights, and looking south 
and east, the eye of the delighted beholder 
takes in at a single sweep one o' the most 
charming and picturesque landscapes im- 
aginable. Outspread before his enraptured 
gaze he beholds a most beautiful and varie- 
gated panorama of town and hamlet, hill and 
dale, mountain and plain, field and forest, 
river and streamlet — the whole of which, 
when blended together, constitutes a grand 
and magnificent picture of rural splendor, 
more bewitching to the eye of the lover of 
nature than city dome or monumental pile. 
This grand, this noble and sublime scene lies 
constantly exposed to our view — and it costs 
us nothing to gaze upon its beauties — and 
yet are there not many in our midst who 
have never witnessed its grandeur, or, to say 
the least, have never fully appreciated its 
sterling beautieB or experienced its magic 
power to charm. In approaching Boonton 
from the south or east the village presents a 
most beautiful and imposing appearance ; but 
when approached from the north or west it iB 
not visible at all until you arrive in its very 
midst. 

My own personal recollections of Boonton 
extend back about twenty-eight years. I re- 
siaed here most of the time during the years 
1832-33 and '34 ; but the Boonton of these 
days was a very small and insignificant affair, 
indeed, as compared with the Boonton of the 
present day. In entering the place from any 
direction at that time you could not see any 
village at all — nothing but rocks and trees, 
and these were neither " few nor far be- 
tween." Thf Boonton of 1832 consisted of 
the iron works, two stores, and about twenty 
small dwelling-houses, all of which were lo- 
cated under the hill in what is now known 
as Plane street. The inhabitants numbered 
about 300, all told, not more than ten of whom 
were natives of New Jersey. The whole 
village, with the exception of one Btore and 
two or three dwelling-houses, belonged exclu- 
sively to the company. Excluding the old 



'■ road already mentioned, there was no public 
j thoroughfare through the place, except by 
the road under the hill, and he that under- 
took to drive a team in any other direction 
did so at the risk of life and limb, both to 
himself and animals. I recollect very well 
that, during the year 1834, one dark night, I 
came very near breaking my own ntck in 
clambering over the rocks up to the house in 
which old Mr. Beekley then resided, at that 
time in the woods away out of town, but now 
in Church street, near Main, being a part of 
the same house at present owned and occu- 
pied by Mr. Samuel C. Tibbals. This house, 
two others on the same side of Churcu street, 
further up the hill, the one in which Mr. La- 
throp now resides, two others near it in Main 
street, and one on the corner of Main and 
Brook streets, built by T. C. Willis, Esq, and 
now owned and occupied by Mrs. Cook — all 
of which are still standing — were the only 
buildings that exis^d above the road (Plane 
street) at the time I left Boonton, in 1834, 
and they were all located in the woods, and 
almost inaccessible to man or beast. At taat 
time quite a stream of water coursed its way 
down among the rocks in the centre of our 
present Brook and Liberty streets. 

I have seen in the fine arts gallery of R. 
H. Winslow, Esq., in New York, a fine pic- 
ture of Boonton, sketched and painted in 
1833, which conveys a very fair and faithful 
representation of the place at that time, as I 
recollect it. Col. Trumbull, the great Amer- 
ican historical painter, and several other gen- 
tlemen of note, visited Boonton during my 
first residence here. The Colonel made a 
number of sketches of scenery in the neigh- 
borhood, of the Falls, but whether he ever 
committed any of them to canvas or not I 
am unable to state. The old schoolhouse, 
which is still standing on the corner of Lib- 
erty and Cedar streets, but now used as a 
dwelling, was erected by the company in 
1831 ; and the First Presbyterian church, 
which also is still standing, but us^d for 
other purposes, was built in the Fall of 1832. 
During my first sojourn here the works 
were visited by vast numbers of stran- 
gers from all parts of the surrounding 
country ; but a bull-dog watch was kept 
over them, and you could only gain admis- 
sion into them by first obtaining a 'per- 
mit from the company's office. I also recol 



'J 3 



lect that during the Summer of 1833 a num- 
ber of dashing young "bloods"— sons of some 
of the English stoekh lders— cauie over to 
this country, and coming out to Boonton 
kicked up <iuite a dust among our rustic 
niountaiueers. Warn I left here, in 1884, 
the number of dwelling-houses had increased 
to about forty, and the inhabitants were esti- 
mated at about tour hundred. My last em- 
ployment here was that of teaching the 
" ideas" of our young Boontonians M how to 
shoot" in the old schoolhousein the woods on 
the hill. 1 have a kind of an indistinct recol- 
lection that, a number of the larger boys — 
now among our most solid and substantial 
citizens — one Saturday forenoon attempted to 
force me out of the school-room ; but I have 
a very distinct recollection that they did not 
quite make it out. 

At that time moat of the iron works were 
carried on under the same roof. They con- 
sisted of a rolling-mill, a number of puddling 
and heating furnaces, an old-fashioned trip- 
hammer, a slitting machine and a small 
foundry. They were principally engaged in 
the manufacture of sheet, hoop and bar iron, 
and turned out what was denominated first- 
claes work. There was also a refinery, which 
stood down on the bank of the river, near 
the spot where the pattern shop now stands. 
I recollect that one day, just before going to 
dinner, the workmen placed a large old can- 
non in the furnace of the refinery, with the 
breech downward, which, happening to be 
heavily loaded with gunpowder, soon alter 
exploded with a great noise, blowing the 
building into atoms, and scattering the frag- 
ments far and wide in every direction ; but, 
as good luck would have it, no one was in- 
jured thereby. There was likewise a small 
blast furnace, built in the Summer of 1833, 
which stood in front of the present machine 
shop, near the old belfry, which was first 
lighted by the ladies residing at the ageui's 
house on the aiternoon of Feb. 27tu, 1834. 
Th*re were then but two tradesmen in the 
place who were disconnected with the works, 
the one a shoemaker and the other a tailor. 
The Bhoe shop was located in our present 
Main street, near Brook street, and was car- 
ried on by Mr. Edson Hoyt, who likewise 
kept a boarding-house where Mr. E. K. Sargent 
now lives. The tailoring business was trans- 
acted on a small scale by one Edward Mor- 



risoy, who had hiH shop in a room in Mr To 
nis Peer's dwelling-house, near the canal 
bridge. At that time the only public convey- 
ance between this place and New York was 
by staye, three titMSa week, said stage being 
owned and driven by Mr. Ezra Estler, of 
rville, who is still living. All our mail 
matter had to be obtained from the post office 
at Parsippauy, '.'•] miles distant, which had a 
tri-weekly mail. The company used to diB- 
patch a wagon to meet each mail, with or- 
ders to brinj; over all the letters and papers 
for this place to tlu-ir store, from wlieuce 
they were delivered to their owners when 
called for. 

The works here have undergone many 
great and important changes since their first 
establishment. Railroad axles were being 
made here when I left in 1834, and since then 
considerable quantities of railroad iron have 
been manufactured. From the year 1842 un- 
til 1847 four furnaces were engaged in the 
manufacture of bloomed iron ; but, charcoal 
becoming scarce and dear, the manufacture 
of this description of iron was abandoned, 
la the year 1849 Mr. S. S. Sailers, of New- 
ark, had erected at the Boonton works a fur- 
nace of his own invention lor the cheap and 
speedy manufacture of malleable iron, direct- 
ly from the ore, at a single heat. The fur- 
nace was divided into three chambers, the 
one above the other, and connected together 
by flues. The ore and coal — the ore being 
first ground — were placed in the upper cham- 
ber, whence the metal, when melted, lowered 
itself down through the flues to the lower 
chambei, where it went through the process 
of puddling, and thence to the rolls. The 
whole operation of each heat occupied about 
three hours. The iron made in this way was 
very highly commended by the best judges 
at the Fair of the American Institute in 1850. 
I am not aware of the cause of the discon- 
tinuance of its manufacture, but the proba- 
bility is that it did not pay. 

On the 8th of November, 1833, was organ- 
ized the first literary society ever instituted 
in this place. It was called the " Boonton 
Debating Society," and held its meetings 
weekly in the old schoolhouse in the woods 
on the hill. Samuel Oakley, Esq., wsb its 
first President, and Doctor Silas Cook was 
its first Secretary. Mr. Oakley was the then 
agent of the company, and a gentleman of 



24 



fine literary tastes, an animated and eloquent 
debater, a logical reasoner and an accom- 
plished belles lettres scholar. This society was 
still in existence when I left Boonton, but in 
a rather drooping condition. The constitu- 
tion was originally subscribed by the follow- 
ing named gentlemen : Samuel Oakley, John 
Grimes, Silas Cook, Jr., James H. Woodhull, 
Robert P. Williams, John L. Kanouse, Rich- 
ard Dudding, Sherman Miller, Thomas C. J. 
Van Winkle, ABher Ayres, Edson Hoyt and 
Isaac S. Lyon. Messrs. Qrimes and Cook 
were doctors ; Messrs. Woodhull, Williams 
and Ayres managed the company's store ; 
Messrs. Van Winkle, Dudding and Miller 
were clerks in the company's office ; Mr. Ka- 
nouse was a merchant ; Mr. Hoyt was a shoe- 
maker, and Mr. Lyon was a clerk in the sec- 
ond store in the place, owned by Quinby & 
De Dart, situate on the Old Boonton road, 
just across the canal bridge. 

On the afternoon of November 20th, 1833, 
a canal-boat, heavily loaded with coal, the 
chain breaking, ran down the inclined plane 
at a furious rate, jumped the towpath, and 
landed among the rocks some twenty feet be- 
low, wrecking the boat beyond repair. There 
was a woman and six children on board the 
boat at the time ; but, strange to Bay, they all 
escaped uninjured. The breaking of the cbain 
was of frequent occurrence in those days, and 
much damage anddelay was occasioned there- 
by. On another occasion a horse and wagon, 
with a woman in it, were standing in front of 
the company's store, whild the driver waB in 
side making a small purchase. In the mean- 
time the horse suddenly became lrightened, 
and starting down the road at a sp^ed that 
would have done honor to a modern race- 
course ran off the bridge into the canal, car- 
rying with him the lower railing of the 
bridge, burying the woman in the bottom of 
the canal beneath the general wreck. The 
neighbors hastened to the scene of disaster, 
and soon succeeded in rescuing the whole 
concern from the watery elements. The wo- 
man was insensible and supposed to be dead 
when Bhe was taken out. She was terribly 
bruised and mangled ; but, a doctor being 
called to her relief, she was sufficiently re- 
stored to return home the same afternoon. 
Both of these escapes border Bomewhat on 
the marvelous. The 17th day of December, 
1833, was the darkest and stormiest ever 



known in this section of country, and it was 
absolutely necessary to keep lights burning 
all day. I recollect this very distinctly, for 
old Granny Peer was greatly alarmed, and 
assured me that the world was coming to an 
end. On the 22d of February, 1834, the 
Boonton Debating Society celebrated Wash- 
ington's Birthday ia the Presbyterian church 
in this place. An oration was delivered by 
Samuel Oakley, Esq., and Washington's Fare- 
well Address to the People of the United 
States was read by Mr. Richard Dudding. 
The church was crowded almoBt to suffoca- 
tion, and many had to go away without gain- 
ing admission. The oration was an eloquent 
and fiery political harangue from beginning 
to end, disappointing the just expectations of 
a highly intelligent audience ; but the Fare- 
well Address was read in a masterly manner 
by Mr. Dudding. Mr. Oakley was frequently 
hissed during the delivery of his address, and 
afterwards greatly regretted the course which 
he bad taaen^ 

It would be an easy matter for me to go on 
and enlarge upon this part of my discourse did 
time permit ; but I must hasten on to the con- 
sideration of the B jonton of the present day. 
A great and noticeable change in the aspect 
of Boonton has taken place, even within the 
last ten years, and the curtain now rises upon 
the most interesting spectacle in this perform- 
ance — the Boonton of 1860. Still gnz ; ng 
from the standpoint of 1834 we look abroad 
upon the opening scene, but everything looks 
new and strange. The old familiar hills and 
streams are still to be seen ; but many of the 
rocks and trees have entirely disappeared, and 
in their stead now rise up before our view 
numerous streetB, studded with neat and com- 
fortable human habitations, which mystify 
the gaze with their bewildering presence. At 
every point we behold the fresh footprints of 
progress ; at every turn we witness the march 
of civilization and refinement, and upon every 
side the eye is startled by the development of 
the arts of modern invention. Increased ac- 
tivity in every department of business sur- 
rounds us in every direction, the whole scene 
appearing to our wondering gaze more like a 
vision of the imagination than the truthful- 
ness of stern reality. The blazing furnaces — 
the busy hum of the machine shop — the cease- 
less whirr of rolls and water-wheels — the 
ever-buzzing saw-mill— the incessant rattling 



25 



of the copper-shop, and the sharp clicking of 
more than a hundred nail uiaohines, tell us 
plainly enough that the man of the nineteenth 
century has been amoDg us. We now not 
only believe, but we also begin to see and feel 
that "Boonton'a bound to go ahead!" Un- 
like the beautiful but baseless and fleeting 
visions which we so often conjure up in our 
dreams, the beautiful and enchanting ecene 
that lieB outspread before us is one of living 
reality and composed of solid substances. The 
hand of progress and improvement has been 
busily at work, and a cheerful and smiling 
village of more than two thousand inhabit- 
ants now marks the result. 

And, now, what has caused all this sudden 
and startling change? To this inquiry but 
one truthful answer can be given, and it is 
this: The iron works established here by 
the New Jersey Iron Company, and now in 
successful operation under the ownership of 
Messrs. Fnller & Lord and the energetic man- 
agement of the enterprising William G. La- 
throp, Esq. This is the Aladdin's Lamp that 
has transformed a once barren and howling 
wilderness into one of the most active and 
prosperous manufacturing villages in New 
Jersey, and given a name to Boonton that is 
almost worldwide. 

The great problem has at length been 
solved, and Boonton has now obtained a foot- 
hold from which no ordinary convulsions of 
trade or commerce can uproot her. The old 
fiction that Boonton could not extend herself 
beyond certain fixed limits has been 
exploded by the historical fact that she has 
already passed those prescribed limits, and 
that her future course will ever be onward 
and upward. A city that is set on a hill can- 
not be hid — and Boonton is not one of those 
kind of know-nothings that expects to illu- 
minate the surrounding country by hiding 
her light under a bushel. As soon as we 
have fy direct lallroad communication with 
New York ci'y — and that time is not distant 
— she will then tuke a new start in her on- 
ward march, and no human obstacle will be 
able to restrain her rapid advancement. 

In a description of Boonton at the present 
day the iron works located here claim our 
first notice, for without them this would be a 
dull and cheerless place. The Boonton iron 
works have been greatly ehauged and en- 
larged since 1834, and the change and en- 

4 



largement is still going on. The different 
works now cover about five acres of ground, 
and are at present divided under the follow- 
ing heads : The large mill, occupied by the 
puddlers, heaters and rollers ; the blast fur- 
nace, the two nail factories, the foundry, the 
machine shop, the saw-mill, the cooper shop, 
the blacksmith shop, the pattern shop, and a 
number of smaller establishments of one 
kind and another. Although somewhat com- 
plicated and immense in extent, order and 
Bystem reign supreme throughout all the di- 
visions and subdivisions of all these various 
departments, and all have the appearance of 
clockwork in their movements. Nothing is 
wasted, nothing is lost, and nothing can re- 
main unaccounted for. 

But perhaps it would be as well, before 
goiog into these details, to give a short t-ketch 
of tilese works as a whole. The facts tbat 
follow were obtained from personal inspection 
and other authentic sources, and may be re- 
lied upon as correct. The New Jersey Iron 
Company was ohartered by an act of the 
Legislature, bearing date Nov. 7th, 1829, and 
many of the original Btnckholde>s were Eng- 
lish gentlemen. The affairs of the company 
were at first managed by Messrs. Green & 
Wetmore, large iron dealers in New York, 
There was no material change made in the 
ownership of these works uutil 1852; but in 
June of that year their ownership passed 
into the hands of D. B. Fuller & Co , and in 
September of the same year the firm was 
changed into that of Fuller & Lord — Dudley 
B. Fuller and James C. Lord— the present 
proprietors. The tract of land originally 
purchased for the use of the New Jersey Iron 
Company consisted of two hundred acres, and 
was a part of the Old Boonton tract. It was 
purchased in the name of David W. Wet- 
more of the late Captain William Scott, of 
Powerville, for the sum of $5,1)00, and iu was 
thought at that time that it had been well 
sold. The whole amount of money expend- 
ed in the construction of these works up to 
1859 was over half a million dollars, and 
since then Beveral thousand dollars more 
have been expended in the erection of addi- 
tional buildings and machinery. A new iron 
wheel of the most solid construction and fin- 
ished workmanship, twenty-seven feet in di- 
ameter — said to be the largest wheel of the 
kind in the State — has been added to the 



2<i 



works during the present year at an expense 
of about $30,000. The number of hands 
originally employed here was about one hun- 
dted ; the number employed at present is be- 
tween 600 and 700. The amount of money 
paid out by the company for labor here is 
about $25,000 per month. The number of 
tons of coal annually consumed at these 
works is 23,000 tons, and the number of tons 
of ore of different kinds is 15,000 tons. Large 
quantities of lime and soapstone are also used 
in the different furnaces, of which I have not 
been able to obtain any particular account. 
The number of tons of iron annually man- 
ufactured here is about 8,500, most of 
which is cut into nails of various kinds and 
shipped down the canal to the company's 
warehouse in New York. The original stock- 
holders of this company lost every dollar of 
their capital, but honorably paid every cent 
of their liabilities toothers. This, no doubt, 
was very pleasing to their consciences as 
men, but could not have been very satisfac- 
tory to their pockets as a business transac- 
tion. 

We will now examine these works and de- 
scribe them a little more in detail. They are 
located in a deep, rocky, narrow valley, be- 
tween the river and canal, and stand some 
SO feet below the river above the dam, which 
is about an eighth of a mile distant. All the 
water used at these works is taken from the 
canal at the head of the inclined plane, the 
river connecting with the canal at the dam, 
and a small quantity of water is made to 
perform an immense amount of work. The 
hills on either side of these works rise ab- 
ruptly to the height of 150 or 200 feet, which 
gives to the whole scene ^ grand and roman- 
tic appearance. The large mill — generally 
termed the rolling-mill — being the first built, 
demands our first notice. This immense edi- 
fice, which covers nearly an acre of ground, 
is in length about 375 feet, by 275 feet in 
width, the roof of which is supported by a 
large number of heavy cast-iron columns, 
all of which were cabt here. The following 
are the principal branches of work carried on 
under the roof of this vast structure, viz.: 
Ten puddling furnaces, which give employ- 
ment to 80 men ; 1 scrap furnace, employing 
4 men ; 3 trains of rolls, containing 7 sets, 
employing 14 men ; 2 squeezers, one rotary 
and the other the old style jaw squeezer, em- 



ploying 4 men ; 3 nut machines, employing 6 
men ; 1 bolt and 1 nut thread cutting ma- 
chine, each employing 2 men. In the eame 
building there are 8 or 10 large spike ma- 
chines, a furnace for heating their plate, and 
other furnaces for heating the iron for the 
nut and bolt machines. Oiher parts of this 
building are used for storing nails, iron and 
other materials ueed in this department. 
The hands in this mill, with the exception of 
those who work the nut, spike and bolt ma- 
chines, -work day and night, off and on turns 
of 10 hours each, about ten months in each 
year. There are quite a number of superin 
tendents and overseers in this building, some 
of whom command high salaries. A large, 
splendid, ornamental cast iron fountain — cast 
here — is located near the centre of this vast 
edifice, the cooling and purifying influences 
of which are very sensibly felt by the numer- 
ous workmen during the torrid heats of Sum 
mer. The nut machines in operation in this 
mill were invented and patented by P. H. 
Cole, Esq., of St. Louis, in 1855, with new 
improvements up to 1857. The bolt machine 
and the nut thread-cutting machine were 
also invented by Mr. Cole. I have been in- 
formed that the Boonton company have pur- 
chased of the inventor the sole right to make, 
use and vend these machines on all this side 
of the Alleghany mountains. The first nut 
machine in operation here was brought on 
from St. Louis by the inventor ; but the sec- 
ond and third were made here, and others 
are now in course of construction. The in- 
troduction of the manufacture of bolts and 
nuts at this establishment has not only added 
considerably to the business of the place, but 
has also, as I understand, proved very profit- 
able to the interests of the company. The 
rotary squeezer, now iu use here, is likewise 
a new invention, and I have been informed 
that this company have secured the exclusive 
right to make and vend them in the United 
States. Large cast-iron water pipes, connect- 
ing with the canal at the head of the inclined 
plane, encircle this and most of the other 
buildings ; and, in caBe of fire breaking out, 
by attaching hose to the hydrants, which are 
plaoed in commanding positions, almost every 
one of the buildings can be flooded in a lew 
minutes. This mill was totally destroyed by 
Are some eight or nine years ago ; but It was 
immediately rebuilt, and has since been en- 
larged to its present dimensions, 



27 



The nail factories ootne next in order. The 
upper nail factory is located on the west bank 
of the oanal, at the head of the inolined plane. 
The dimensions of this building are 50x150 
fret, and it is two stories in height. It was 
erected during the years 1 849-50, and com- 
menced operations in August, 1851. It con- 
tains 79 naii machines, giving employment 
to 38 nailers and 48 or 50 feeders. The whole 
number of hands employed in this factory is 
118, including plate-cutters, packers, pilers 
and furnace men. The largest number of 
kegs of nails cut in this factory in any one 
week ie 3,142, in May, 1858; the largest 
number cut in any one month is 14,021, in 
March, 1856. The usual number of kegs of 
nails out in this factory in one year ranges 
from 90,000 to 125,000, and the average work- 
ing time is about 10 months in each year, 
*Dd there is seldom any supsension of opera- 
tions on account of hard times. The nails 
made at this establishment are now sought as 
A No. 1 article in every market. Mr. James 
Holmes has the chief management of this 
factory, and has had since its commencement. 

The lower nail factory is located in the up- 
per part of the saw-mill, which stands on the 
lower bank of the branch canal. The follow- 
ing details were furnished me by Mr. Andrew 
F. Kirby, one of the nailers : This factory 
commenced' operations in 1855, contains 25 
nail machines, and employs about 30 hands, 
men and boys, all told. The nails cut here 
are all of the smaller kind, but are equally as 
good as those cut at the upper factory. The 
number of kegs of nails cut in the course of 
each year average about 10,000. This factory 
is under the charge of Mr. Nathaniel Jones, 
auu works about 10 months in each year. 

The saw-mill is quite a busy place, and is 
under the management of Mr. George M. 
Gage, of whom I have the following details: 
The first saw-mill established here was in 
October, 1850, in the old building now used 
for a machine shop. The present large and 
commodious establishment commenced ope- 
rations in 1854, and furnishes constant em- 
ployment to from 18 to 20 hands. This saw- 
mill consumes about 1,000 cords of chestnut 
timber annually, which is sawed into staves, 
and about 10,008 feet of whitewood logs, 
which, when sawed into boards, makes about 
70,000 feet of keg heading. The Btave timber 
costs from $5 to $5.75 per cord, according to 



quality. The usual number of staves turned 
out daily amounts to from 12,000 to 13,000 
In addition to the 70,000 feet of whitewood 
boards about 200,000 feet of 1 1 inch plank 
are used for heading purposes. This, when 
slit in twain, will make about 400,000 keg 
heads, being about the number generally 
used each year. The hands employed in this 
mill work, on an average, about 275 to 280 
dayB each year. 

The cooper shop comes next in order. I 
have the following details from Mr. A. Bur- 
roughs, superintendent thereof : This, too, 
is likewise an extensive and stirring depart- 
ment. The first cooper shop was established 
in 1851, in an old building since demolished. 
The present shop, together with several other 
extensive buildings used for drying and stor- 
age purposes— all built of brick, with slate 
roofs— were mostly built in 1854. The num- 
ber of staves annually used in this shop 
amounts to about 2,184,880, and the number 
of kegs turned out annually average about 
146,000. Eighty kegs is considered a fair 
day's work for one man, but Mr. Sawyer has 
made as high as 125 kegs in 10 hours. Any 
person who can witness the daring, almost 
reckless manner in which he fits a hoop, with- 
out shuddering, must be either more or less 
than man. The number of men employed in 
this shop is 14, who work about 46 weeks in 
each year. 

There has been a small foundry attached to 
these works since their first establishment ; 
but the new building erected for this purpose 
in 1857 is the only one deserving particular 
notice. The new foundry is located between 
the machine shop and the blast f urnaoe, is 50 
feet wide and 60 feet in length, and is con- 
structed of brick in the most substantial 
manner. It gives employment to 10 men, 
and turns out about 400 tons of castings in 
the course of a year, but it is capable of doing 
double that amount of business when de- 
manded. It now makes all the castings used 
about the works, and always stands ready to 
contract for outside orders whenever they are 
offered. The largest casting that has yet 
been made at this foundry is 15,500 pounds, 
but a much larger one can.be made^when 
wanted. Mr. Paul Glover has been acting as 
superintendent of thiB establishment for quite 
a number of years. 



28 



Previous to the year 1853 the larger portion 
ofrthe machinery used at these works was 
made at Newark and Rockaway ; but in June 
of that year the present machine shop was 
established here. It is now carried on in an 
old building, formerly occupied as a saw-mill, 
located between the rolliDg-mill and tbe 
foundry. Since its establishment this shop 
has manufactured all the machinery (except 
nail machines) required by the works, to- 
gether with all the necessary repairs, with an 
occasional outside job. It employs 8 men, 
all of whom generally make lull time the 
year round. This shop is now, and has been 
since its first establishment, under the Buper- 
intendency of Captain Edwin Bishop. 

Of the present blast furnace I have rot 
been able to obtain any correct particulars. 
It was, however, erected some 12 or 14 years, 
ago, employs from 25 to 80 hands, and turns 
out about, 20 tons of pig iron every 24 hours. 
It works night and day, weekdays and Sun- 
days, and indulges in a general blow-out 
about once every three years. It i.3 at present 
under the management of Mr. George Jen- 
kins. 

There is also a large blacksmith shop con- 
nected with these works, and has been from 
the beginning. This shop was formerly car- 
ried on in an old building in the rear of the 
rolling-mill ; but, this building having been 
destroyed by fire in 1856, the shop was re- 
moved into the westerly corner of that mill. 
The present blacksmith shop, built of brick 
in 1850, stands on the left hand side, at the 
main entrance to said mill. This shop and 
its branches now employ 15 bauds, who gen- 
erally make full time the year round. It 
does ail the blacksmithing required about the 
works, and occasionally contracts for aa oat- 
side job. This shop is divided into a number 
of different branches, each of which is under 
the direction of a separate foreman. There 
are also a carpenter shop, a pattern shop and a 
plumber's shop connected with these works; 
but as they employ only from 2 to 5 hands 
each I have not thought it important to enter 
into their details. 

This company own extensive ore mines a 
short distance up the canal, and during the 
boating season keep in constant employment 
some 20 boats, which are engaged in stock- 
ing the works with ore, coal and other mate- 
rials, and conveying tbe nails and finished 



iron to the New York market. This oompany 
pay off all their workmen in cash, once every 
four weeks, but alwayB retaining two weeks' 
wages in the office. 

Anthracite coal has been in common use in 
these works during the last 18 years, and with- 
out it at the present time it would be impossible 
to keep them in operation one month in a 
year. Tbe disoovery of this important secret 
constitutes one of the great events of modern 
times, and I am strongly impressed with the 
belief that the Boonton Company were the 
first that introduced this kind of coal into 
successful use for puddling purposes. I have 
tried hard to trace out the truth of this im- 
portant i-tct, and to ascertain the name of the 
discoverer, but nobody seems to have taken 
any note of it. Every person with whom I 
have oon versed upon the Bubjeot is of the 
same opinion as myself, but as yet I have not 
been able to substantiate the fact. If it really 
is true, as I believe that it is, then the old 
Boonton Company deserve great praise for 
their enterprise, and the name of the discov- 
erer should be traced out and a monument be 
reared to his memory that shall stand while 
Boonton stands. Other important discoveries 
have been made here by gentlemen connected 
with these works, but I find it a very difficult 
matter to trace out anything correctly respect- 
ing the past. Mr. Stephen Pear, one of our 
most ingenious mechanics, has made soma 
important improvements in the stave-sawing 
department, and Mr. John Gould has invented 
a self feeding apparatus, attachable to a nail 
machine, which, it is said, is a very desirable 
and useful inventioB. Mr. John Wootton, a 
gentleman of rare inventive genius, has late- 
ly invented a very curious and ingenious ma- 
chine for cutting horseshoe nails, the model 
of which was unfortunately destroyed at the 
burning of the New York Crystal Palace. 

I very much doubt if there is in the whole 
United States another establishment of the 
kind so thoroughly organized in every re- 
spect, and so abiy conducted in all its various 
departments, as are these Bjonton works. A 
more thoroughly independent and self-reliant 
company could not well exist, for they rely 
wholly upon themselves for everything that 
their business demands, which it is reasonably 
possible for them to control ; and it is cur- 
rently reported here that they can and do 
manufacture naile at a less cost than at any 



•20 



other establishment of the kind in the world. 
It is, perhaps, owing to the watohful and sys- 
tematic manner in which every branch of 
their business is conduoted that they have 
been enabled to keep the furnaces of Boonton 
in full blast and their 700 men and boys in 
full employment while bankruptcy and ruin 
have been stalking like ghosts of disembodied 
speculators over all the rest of the country. 

We will now look about us a little and see 
what the villnge itt-elf is composed of. Boon- 
ton is now regularly laid out into streets 
fifty feet wide, which crosg each other at 
right aogles. Tue village was very hand- 
somely mapped by Mr. Thomas Hughes in 
1867, at which time it contained about 1,600 
inhabitants ; but many fine improvements 
have been made since that time. The num- 
ber of streets at present laid oat are twenty- 
four, about five miles of which have been 
opened and built upon. From a personal sur- 
vey, made in July. 1859, I am enabled to 
make the following statement in detail, which 
I believe is strictly correct: Of dwelling 
houses there were 268; halls and hotels, 2; 
churches, 4 ; Btorehouees, 7 ; carpenter shops, 
8 ; shoe shops, 2 ; blackscith shops, 4 ; tailor 
shops, 2 ; steam mills, 1 ; academies, 1 ; pest 
offices, 1 ; barns, 43 ; total of buildings of 
all descriptions, 338. The dwelling houses 
are located as follows : Canal street, 11 ; 
Division street, 10 ; Mechanic street, 2 ; Wil- 
liam street, 15; Cornelia street, 12 ; Church 
street, 24 ; Brook street, 44 ; Liberty street, 
28 ; Green street, 16 ; Oak street, 9 ; Plane 
street, 11 ; Main street, 29 ; Birch street, 21 ; 
Cedar street, 11 ; Spruce street, 2 ; scattering, 
23. Of these buildings, including United 
States Hotel and Liberty Hall. 6 are 3 stories 
in height, 122 2 stones, and 141 1 story. Of 
the 268 dwelling houses about 100 have been 
built since my return here in 1855. In the 
village are 4 brick buildings — the academy, 
two storehouses and one dwelling — 8 of stone 
and cement — the hotel and two dwelling 
houses ; all the rest are wooden building?, 
built in different styles of architecture. But 
it should be borne in mind that many of the 
dwelling hous<s are large, double buildings, 
in the occupancy of from two to four lots ; 
but in all cases I have rated all such buildings 
as a single house. The uniform size of all 
our village lots is 50x100 to 125 feet, and they 
are valued at from $50 to $1,000 each. I esti 



mate the population of Boonton at the pres- 
ent time (18?0) at something over 2,000. 

In July, 1860, one year later, I again took 
a Burvey of the business operations of the 
place, and the following details embraoe the 
result of my investigations. There were 
then engaged in business operations in the 
place 10 stores for the Bale of general mer- 
chandise, 4 stores for the sale of small wares 
and fancy goods 6 merchant tailors, 8 drug 
stores, 2 stove and tinware establishments, 4 
blacksmith shops, 5 boot and shoe Bhops, 8 
carpenter shops, 2 wheelwright shops, 2 har- 
ness makers' shops, 2 paint shops, I hotel, 1 
livery stable, 1 lumber yard, 3 coal yards, 1 
steam mill, 1 grist mill, 1 oider mill, 2 watch 
makers, 1 baker, 1 cabinet maker, 1 sash and 
blind maker, 1 barber, 1 news office, and quite 
a number of smaller establishments of vari. 
ous kinds, including a large number of beer 
shops. MoBt of the large stores are kept well 
stocked, an i all appear to be doing a living 
business, the sales of a few of them being 
immense for the Bi'ze of the place. Thefle 
several establishments employ an active cash 
capital of not less than $100,000, and give 
employment to about 100 p^rsone, and from 
50 to 60 horses, all told. The real business 
transacted at these various establishments 
must amount to something like $1,000 per 
ditm. 

And now, my friends, when we compare 
the Boonton of 1860 with the Boonton of 
1834, may we not justly boast of our progress 
and achievements, and at the rapid advance- 
ment which we have made in every depart- 
ment of trade and manufactures in the brief 
space of 26 years ? Look at Boonton then, 
with her 400 inhabitants, her 100 workmen, 
her 40 dwelling houses, her solitary church 
and schooihouse, her 2 small stores and 2 me- 
chanics, and then look upon what she is now. 
We may, however, look upon what has al- 
ready been accomplished as a mere nothing 
in comparison with what we have every rea- 
son to believe will be done by our children 
during the next twenty-six years — for Boon- 
ton haB but just waked up, as it were, to a 
sense of her position in view of the " good 
time coming." 

A brief description of a lew of the most 
prominent objects that contribute to our 
moral and social enjoyment, and I shall have 
done with this part of my discourse. I be- 



s$ 



gin with the churches, ae they are generally 
looked upom by all as the best regulators of 
society in every civilized community. The 
Si st building ever erected in this place for 
the purpose of religious instruction was the 
old Presbyterian church, located on the cor- 
ner of Church and Birch streets. This build- 
ing was erected in 1832— size 35x55 feet, and 
cost about $2, 00. A new church edifice, 
86x72 feet, containing a fine steeple, was 
erected on the site of the old ohuich in 1859, 
at a cost of about $6,000. independently of 
its interior decorations, which cost some $1,- 
500. In that year this church contained 156 
members, and about 130 Sunday school schol- 
ars, who have a library numbering between 
200 and 300 volumes. The Rev. D. E. Megie 
is now, and has been for many years, pastor of 
this church. 

The Methodist Episcopal ohurch comes 
next in order. This church is located in Ce- 
dar, near Liberty street, is 40 feet square, and 
was erected in 1854, at a cost of $1,600. The 
lot upon which it stands is 100x104 feet, upon 
a portion of which a parsonage house has 
lately been erected at a cost of $1,800. In 
1859 this church contained 143 members and 
50 probationers ; has a Sunday school at- 
tached to it, containing 180 soholars, 22 
teachers, and a library of 200 volumes. Pre- 
vious to the erection of this building the 
Methodist congregation held their services in 
the old " Free church" on Main street — since 
changed ioto the drug store now occupied by 
Mr. William McGarty. 

A small Soman Catholio churoh was erected 
here some nine or ten years since. It stands 
in Birch street, near Green, and has a bury- 
ing ground on the same lot. This building 
being found too small to accommodate a rap- 
idly increasing congregation, the trustees 
have recently decided upon the ereotion of a 
new edifice. The new church, now in course 
of erection, when completed, will be a hand- 
some structure and an ornament to our thriv- 
ing village. The new building will be 40x80 
ftet, with a tower 65 feet in height, and 
stained glass windows, built of hewn stone in 
the most substantial manner. It etands di- 
rectly opposite the old church, and it is ex- 
pected that it will be completed duriDg the 
coming year, its estimated cost being $12,000. 
This church claims to have between 600 and 
700 members and a large Sunday school ; but 



it should be borne in mind that many mem- 
bers of this, as well as of all the other 
churches, reside without the village. 

A Free Congregational church was estab 
lished here some years ago ; but I have not. 
been able to learn anything respecting its 
history further than that it was located in 
Main street, in the building now occupied as a 
drug store by Mr. McCarty. 

The Protestant Episcopal is the latest on 
the list of churches established here. The 
services of this denomination were first held 
here in the Fall of 1856, in the old Free 
ohurch just referred to ; but at present they 
hold their regular services in the old Sessions 
building formerly attached to the Presbyte- 
rian church, afterward known as " Musical 
Hall," in Church street. An addition has 
been attached to the original building, which 
is now fitted up into a very neat and commo. 
dious place of religious worship. The pres 
ent number of its resident members is about 25, 
Sunday school scholars 98, teachers 14, vol- 
umes in library 200. This church has lately 
been incorporated, according to the ruleB pre- 
scribed by that denomination, and is now act- 
ing as a self-governing organization. Messrs 
Fuller & Lord have donated to this congrega- 
tion a fine lot of grouod on the corner of 
Cedar and Cornelia streets, and measures are 
now In progress for erecting a handsome new 
church edifice thereon during the coming 
year. 

1 he Boonton Free Academy is an institu- 
tion of which our citizens may justly feel 
proud. It is beautifully located on Academy 
green, and commands a noble and extended 
view of the village and surrounding country 
This edifice is constructed of brick, is two 
stories in height, and of respectable dimen. 
sions on the ground. It was built during the 
years 1852-53, at a cost of about $4,000, and 
was dedicated on the Fourth of July of the 
latter year. In 1859 the average number of 
soholars attending this institution was about 
200, the highest number in attendance at any 
one time being 250. It employs at present 4 
teachers, one male and three females, the to- 
tal o: whose salaries amounts to $1,400 per 
annum. It is governed by a board of three 
trustees, one of whom is chosen by the citi- 
zens annually. The higher branches taught 
here are philosophy, history, algebra and 
mathematics. 



SI 



Our new United States Hotel In the first 
establishment of the kind that has ever been 
opened in this place, and its beneficial effects 
to business generally hare already been very 
sensibly felt and appreciated by this com- 
munity. Previous to its erection there ex- 
isted nowhere in the village a place at which 
a stranger might obtain a meal ot victuals or 
demand a night's lodging. The ""United 
States" is a first-class building of the kind, 
and is well conducted and patronized. Its 
erection was commenced in 1857, and com- 
pleted in 1858, being about one year in build- 
ing. It was first opened for the reception of 
the public on November 3d, 1858, at which 
time it underwent a pretty good warming. 
The walls of this building are constructed of 
stone and cement, are 40x86 feet in their di- 
mensions, 3^ stories in height, the whole 
built at a cost of some $8,000 or $9,000. It 
contains 42 rooms in all, the two largest of 
which are 22x40 feet, and is capable of ac- 
commodating comfortably about fifty gueBts. 
It is located on the corner of Main and Di- 
vision streets — a not very desirable location — 
and when fully completed will contain a 
handsome cupola on its top and a spacious 
piazza on each street. Mr. C. P. Chamberlain, 
its gentlemanly landlord, is at present enjoy. 
ing a liberal share of patronage from both 
the local and traveling public. 

But little can be said in commendation of 
any other of our public buildings — the new 
"Union Building," corner of Brook and Birch 
streets, alone excepted, which constitutes the 
finest improvement yet made in that section 
of the village. The dimensions of this build- 
ing are 50x60 feet, three stories in height, 
erected more particularly for the accommoda- 
tion of the " Booonton Protective Union Com- 
pany's" store, but not wholly so. It is con- 
structed of wood, has a fire-proof composi- 
tion roof, is highly ornamental in its outward 
appearance, and is said to be the largest and 
handsomest building of the kind in Morris 
county. The whole of the firBt story, to- 
gether with the cellar, is now occupied by 
the " Boonton Protective Union Company" 
for store-keeping purposes ; the second Btory 
has been divided into small apartments, to be 
let either for offices or dwellings, and the 
third story has been finished into two spa- 
cious halls, the one being used for literary 
and the other for public purposes of various 



kinds. This fine building was erected by an 
enterprising private company during the 
Summer of 1859 at a cost of about $7,000. 

Our so-oalled "Old Liberty Hall," built und 
owned by Dr. John Grimes, is the oldest pub- 
lic hall in the village, and for many years 
was the only one. This renowned old hall 
stands on Main, near Liberty street, and when 
filled to its utmost oapaoity will hold about 
400 persons. The fame of this grand old 
hall is widespread — yea, almost world-wi 'e — 
and its doors have been entered by most of 
the people of Boonton and the surrounding 
country. It has been used at one time and 
another for almost every conceivable pur- 
pose, both of a public and pri\ ate character. 
It well deserves to be called Liberty Hall, 
for within its walls almost every description 
of performances have been enacted. Song 
and dance — feast and frolio — wedding and 
funeral — show and concert — music and re- 
joicing — history and the drama — farce and 
tragedy — debate and disputation upon thing3 
seen and unseen — literature and science — 
slavery and anti-slavery — republicanism and 
democracy — whigism, know-nothingism, and 
all the other isms ever heard of or dreamed 
of — politics and religion — patriotism and 
free-soilism — spirit rappings and vegetarian- 
ism — woman's rights aud woman's wroDgs, 
in all their various phases and ramifications 
— free suppers, free Bpeech and free every- 
thing—all have been enacted, seen, heard and 
listened to time and again within its venera 
ble and time-hallowed walls. Long may the 
flag of the free and brave float in iriuuiph 
from the battlements of our famous old Lib- 
erty Hall 1 May its foundations endure for a 
thousand years yet to come, and may its 
shadows never be less than they are at the 
present moment ! 

Independence Hall is quite a large room, 
located over the store of Messrs. Peer <fe Da- 
vis, in Main street. This hall was formerly 
occupied by the Boonton Temperance Society, 
and latterly by the National Guard as an ar- 
mory and drill room, but at present it is not 
occupied permanently for any purpose. The 
old Presbyterian church building has lately 
been purchased by a number of gentlemen, 
who have had it removed to the opposite side 
of the street and fitted up as a place for hold- 
ing exhibitions and public meetings. It is 
now known as " Washington Hall/' and is 



32 



♦the largest building of the kind at present 
in the village. This hall is quite large enongh 
to meet the present wants of onr citizens ; but 
it will, no doubt, soon be superseded by some- 
thing more elegant and commodious. There 
are quite a number of elegant private resi- 
dences scattered round in different parts of 
the village, but I dare not particularize any 
of them. Taking everything into considera- 
tion — the newness of the place and the oner- 
ous expense of clearing a lot and building 
thereon — bo Boontonian need be ashamed of 
taking a stranger by the hand and showing 
him round our little rock-bound village, 
young and unpretending as she is. 

Boonton has long been noted for the mu- 
sical attainments of her citizens, and I hesi- 
tate not in saying that there is not another 
place of its sizs in the civilized world that 
can turn out more musicians of one kind and 
another. The fact is, and there ia no use in 
trying to conceal it, we are emphatically a 
musical community. Old and young, great 
and small, men, women and children — in- 
fants of the smallest dimensions and tiniest 
voices included — all seem to have more or 
less "music in their souls;" and, what is 
still more to the purpose, most of tbem have 
a happy knack of letting their neighbors 
know it. There have been at various times 
no less than three military bands organized 
in this village ; but of the whole number 
there is but one of them in existence at the 
present time — 1860— the *' Washington oor- 
net band." This band was organized under 
the leadership of Mr. Joseph Mills June 26th, 
1851, at which time it contained only six 
members It was then called the '• Boonton 
braes band." On the 8d of January, 1852, 
Mr. Mills withdrew from the leadship of this 
band ; but the remaining members immedi- 
ately reorganized themselves under the name 
of the *' Boonton temperance brass band," 
with Mr. Charles Raaieey as their leader. 
On the 1st of April, 1857, Mr. Eamsey with- 
drew from the band, and Mr. Joseph Fitzpat- 
rick wa<j chosen leader, at whioh time the 
name of the band was again changed to that 
of the " Washington cornet band," which 
name it still retains. Toe band at present 
consists of the following named members : 
Charles Ramsey, leader (having been again 
chosen leader August 14th, 1858), Joseph 
Fitzpatrick, Enoch Hammonds, Joseph Par- 



ker, William Grubb, Joseph Hammonds, 
Thomas Hammonds, Daniel Mains, Nathaniel 
A. Myers, James King, James Myers, Squire 
Gage, Edward Fitzpatrick, William Bever- 
combe and Smith G. Gage — 15 members all 
told At present this band holds its meetings 
in one of the large rooms of the United States 
Hotel. 

The " Excelsior band" was organized by 
Mr. Joseph Mills January 10th, 1852. Mr. 
Mil's waB its first leader, but it obtained its 
highest renown under the leadership of Mr. 
William A. Sterenton. This band was com- 
posed entirely of young men, and its last 
leader was Mr. George F. Teush. It consisted 
of ten members at the time of its disband- 
ment, a few months sinoe, the names of whom 
were as follows : George F. Teush, leader, 
Adam Trumbor, George Hessey, Joseph Ste- 
venton, Joseph Beardmore, John Lepard, 
Samuel Rubadou, Joseph Lemear, Richard 
Mansell and Stacy P. Hopper. Both of these 
bands have had calls to play in different 
parts of the State, and they have always done 
themselves and the place they hailed from 
great credit by their splendid performances. 

A fine military company has been organized 
here during the present year (1859) but I 
have not been able to obtajn much informa. 
tion in regard to its movements. It is called 
the "First Company, National Guard, of Boon- 
ton," and is under command of our enter- 
prising fellow-citizen, Captain Edwin Bishop, 
an ex-member of the famous New York Sev- 
enth regiment. The company has its armory 
and drill-room in Independence Hall, and at 
the present time numbers about forty mus- 
kets. There are plenty of good raw mate- 
rials in this village, sufficient to increase the 
number of this company to at least 100 mem- 
bers, rar>k and file, and I trust that Captain 
Bishop will succeed in getting that number 
into line between this time and the coming 
Fourth of July. 

Wishing to plaoe the date of the first es- 
tablishment of a post office in this place on 
record in this discourse, and rinding it a diffi- 
cult matter to obi ain any correct account of 
it here, I di patched a note to the Postmaster 
General, soliciting information upon the sub- 
ject. This application was made under date 
of July 27, 1859, and on the 10th of August 
following I received the .'ollowing reply, un- 
der the seal of the Post Office Department : 



33 



" Prom the 3d of February, 1817, till the «.>th of 
July, 1846, there was no office by theuame of Boon- 
ton ; but, on that day the office at Montville waa 
changed to Boonton- including a change of Bite— and 
Edmund K.Sargent was appointed postmaster, who 
continued to aet till the 27th of November 1849, when 
John Hill was appointed, who held the Office till the 
24th of May, 1853, when Edmund K. Sargent was re- 
appointed, and who is the present incumbent. This, 
it is be ieved, covers all the information the popart- 
menl can furnish as to the history of this office. 
Very respect fully, 

John B. L. Skinner, 
Acting First Ass't, P. M. General. 

The iirst news office ever established in 
Boonton, was opened by Edward E. Lynn on 
the corner of Main and Brook streets in the 
Fallot' 1857, and although there was but lit- 
tle encouiagement held out at the time, I 
believe that it is now doing a good paying 
business, with a fair prospect of a gradual in- 
crease. 

The "Boonton Cemetery" is a burial place 
of which our citizens need not feel ashamed. 
The land which it occupies was donated by 
the company here at the first settlement of the 
place, which has since been greatly improved 
and beautified by those burying there. The 
oldest tombstone I have been aide to discover 
there bears date of 1832. At that time it was 
more or less surrounded by woods on every 
side, and entirely disconnected with and out 
of sight of the village. It is now surrounded 
by a substantial concrete wall, and the lots 
have nearly all been taken up. 

There have been cprite a number of public 
societies of one kind and another established 
at various times in this village ; but most of 
them have already run their course and been 
forgotten. There are only three that profess 
to have an existence at the present time — the 
"Minerva Literary Society," the "Boonton 
Temperance Society" and the "Band of 
Hope," the latter of which is composed of chil- 
dren exclusively. None of these societies, 
however, are now in a very healthfull or 
flourishing condition, but possibly they may 
revive again during the coming Winter. The 
"Minerva" was established about three years 
ago, and at one time contained over a hun- 
dred members. Its meetings are held in Lib- 
erty Hall, and are always open free to the 
public. It owns a small but select library of 
standard works, by the best authors, which, at 
one time, were very generally read by its 
members. The time was when this society 



entertained its huge audiences with literary 
performances of a high character ; but it can 

hardly be said of if now that it "still lives," 
for its meetings are "few and far between." 
It is a great pity that such is the case, for it 
is a well-known fact that during its more 
prosperous days, our numerous beer shops were 
very little visited on its meeting nights. 
There are too many cliques and clans in our 
midst to expect any association composed of 
our mixed population to harmonize together 
for any length of time. It is greatly to be 
regretted that such is the case, for in a large 
and intelligent place like Boonton, there 
should be a permanent literary institution of 
some kind, where all classes of our citizens 
might meet on a common level for the pur- 
pose of social enjoyment and literary improve- 
ment. 

Of the natural scenery in and around Boon- 
ton I shall have but little to say. It requires 
no flourish of trumpets on my part to herald 
forth its sublime beauties to the world, for it 
is fully capable of singing its own praises and 
telling its own story. Gordon, in his Gazet- 
teer of New Jersey, says that " Boonton is the 
most romantic place in the State;" and he 
might have added, with much truthfulness, 
that there are few places more so out of it. 
Many of our fashionable sightseers have trav- 
eled thousands of miles, and expended thou- 
sands of dollars, to gaze upon foreign scenes 
not half so lovely and enchanting as those of 
Boonton — when seen by moonlight. It is all 
well enough for those who have plenty of 
money to spend to see as much as they can of 
this beautiful world of ours and its many nat- 
ural attractions ; but would it not be quite as 
well for them to first visit the historical loca- 
tions of their own country, and gaze upon its 
unrivalled natural scenery, before they wander 
oft' to the Old World to view the musty and 
crumbling ruins of past ages? If some of 
our native embryo artists, who are now eking 
out a precarious existence in Broadway gar- 
rets by copying the "old masters" at fifty 
cents a copy, would come out to Boonton, and 
could succeed in catching the inspiration of 
the place, and transfer the life of our noble 
mountain scenery to their canvas, they might 
till their empty purses, immortalize their 
names and transmit them down to posterity 
among the great master spirits of their age and 
country. 



34 



Situated as Boonton is, upon a hard, dry, 
rocky soil, some fiOO feet above the level of 
the sea, with a climate famed for the salubrity 
of its atmosphere, what is there in the way to 
prevent her from being one of the healthiest 
locations in the wide world ? Securely out of 
the reach of most of those diseases that rav- 
age our large cities, man has nothing here to 
fear save the vengeance of an offended God 
and the upbraidings of his own guiltj 7 con- 
science. Instead, therefore, of hankering af- 
ter the "forbidden fleshpots of Egypt," and 
making ourselves miserable because the world 
is not all our own, we ought to thank God that 
we are what we are, and that our lot has fallen 
upon sueh a healthful and pleasant spot. 

And now, my friends, what more need be 
said about Boonton, either past or present ? 
Her past struggles and her present triumphs 
have been passed in review before you ; and 
does not her present prosperity plainly indicate 
a still more glorious future ? Boonton now 
has the ring of the true metal, and with a pop- 
ulation of more than 2,000 souls, what can 
vent her from going ahead ? There are but 
few drones in our common hive — no favored 
few to look sneeringly on while the many do 



all the labor, as in most places — no painted 
butterflies to hum about our heads and sip the 
honeyed dew from flowers planted for common 
use. We all work and obtain our bread by the 
labor of our own hands, and it is this common 
division of labor among all classes that makes 
labor itself honorable. 

But while we prosper and flourish like a 
green bay tree, we behold our venerable moth- 
er, Old Boone-Town, stricken in years, and 
feeble and palsied with age. This, however, 
is but the fulfillment of a law of nature, which 
is just as fixed and certain as that which leads 
the man of tottering footsteps and snowy locks 
with irrevocable certainty to the grave. We 
also behold her young and blooming daughter, 
Boonton, now full of life and vigor, just burst- 
ing into early womanhood, and proud to encir- 
cle her brow with the good old family name. 
And God grant that she may always hold the 
cherished old homestead in filial love and ven- 
eration, and adopt as her future model the en- 
terprising spirit of her good old mother, and 
as the mother was among the first to light up 
the forge-fires in the wilderness of America, 
so may the daughter be among the last that 
shall put them out ! 



PART THIRD. 



MISCELLANEOUS FACTS AND SPECULATIONS. 



■+■■■: . -^ 



October 5, 1867. 
Ladies and Gentlemen : — In collecting 
materials for this discourse quite a number 
of facts and traditions respecting the early 
history of Old Boonton came into my posses- 
sion which I found it inconvenient to intro- 
duce into my sketch of that place at the time 
it was written. Besides this I notice the en- 
tire omission of a few facts which I intended 
to insert in Part First, which were accident- 
ally overlooked on that occasion. Other in- 
teresting incidents have since been obtained, 
all of which I have thrown together without 
any regularity of form or arrangement, which 
I shall now introduce to you as ' ' Miscella- 
neous Facts and ^Speculations," under the 
heading of Part Third. It will, however, be 
noticed, as I proceed, that that some of these 
facts and incidents, which are well worth 
knowing and remembering, have no particular 
connection with the main subject of this dis- 
course. But I trust that, in view of the time 
and labor I have expended in making this 
collection, you will justify their introduction 
in this connection ; for, although not imme- 
diately connected with the subject under dis- 
cussion, still they will be found useful in il- 
lustrating some of the positions I have as- 
sumed in discussing Part First. 

The question of who owned the Boonton 
tract prior to its coming into possession of 
David Ogden, has given me more trouble than 
any other. It is barely possible that Mr. 
Ogden might have purchased it of different 
parties, in various quantities, at several dif- 
ferent times. I shall submit all the informa- 
tion I have obtained relating to the subject, 
and leave you to draw your own conclusions. 



Mr. Parker says that Col. Ogden's father pur 
chased the property and gave it to his son on 
condition that he should remove there and 
carry on the iron works, which were already 
established there. It is quite certain that 
Col. Lemuel Cobb, father of Judge A. B. 
Cobb, did most of the surveying on the 
property after it came into possession of the 
Ogdens. While engaged with Judge Cobb 
in looking over some of his father's old pa- 
pers a few years ago, we came across an old 
document which was very badly defaced, 
which seemed to have some bearing upon 
this subject. As near as we could get at the 
substance of this old document it purported 
to be an agreement between Courtland Skin- 
ner and one Burnet (first name entirely ob- 
literated), and David Ogden, by which the 
former parties agreed to sell to the latter 
named party, certain lands in Morris county ; 
but it was impossible for us to decipher out 
the location of these lands, or the amount of 
the consideration money that was to be paid 
for them. This document bore date 17.~>!>, 
which corresponds with the time named by 
Mr. Parker when the Boonton property first 
came into possession of David Ogden ; but 
still all this is a matter of uncertainty, and 
not to be relied on. However, I have but lit- 
tle doubt in my own mind that the lands here 
referred to constituted, if not the whole of 
the Boonton tract, at least that portion of it 
upon which the iron works were located. It 
is a well-known fact that the Skinners and 
Burnets owned large tracts of land in tins 
section of country at about that time. 

In an old volume now in my possession, 
formerly the property of i; J. J. Faish, Esq.,' 



36 



f Old Boonton, published in 1784, containing 
the " Acts of the New Jersey Legislature be- 
tween the years 177(i and 1783," I find an- 
other little scrap of information which may 
possibly throw some light upon this obscure 
subject. In the index of this old volume (the 
bulk of which has been used as a scrap-book) 
I find the following : " An act passed by the 
New Jersey Legislature, vesting in Richard 
Morris, Esquire, the power, authority, title 
and estate of certain lands in New Jersey, 
given unto David Ogden and Richard Morris, 
by the last will and testament of Robert Hun- 
ter, Esquire, deceased." The Robert Hunter 
here alluded to was Governor of the Province 
of New Jersey from the year 1710 to 1720, 
and the natural presumption would be that 
the "lands" bequeathed by him to Messrs. 
Ogden and Morris were not of very limited 
dimensions. At any rate it is a pretty well 
ascertained fact that both Ogden and Morris 
owned large tracts of land in Morris county 
previous to the Revolution ; and it is within 
the bounds of possibility that the Boonton 
tract might have been a portion of the lands 
bequeathed to Ogden by the last will and testa- 
ment of Gov. Hunter. 

This trying to trace out old titles to land, is, 
no doubt, a dry subject of discussion to most 
of you ; but, as I feel greatly interested in 
the question myself, I shall tax your patience 
a little further by placing upon record all the 
facts that have come to my knowledge in any 
way relating to the original ownership of the 
Boonton tract. 

I have now in my possession, presented to 
me by Judge Cobb, an original deed, dated 
May 9th, 1774, from " David Ogden, Esquire, 
of New-Ark, to Simeon Van Winkle, of Han- 
over," for a tract of land containing 124 60- 
100 acres, the consideration sum for which 
was "Two Pounds current Proclamation 
money of New Jersey." This deed has never 
been recorded, and probably was never deliv- 
ered, as the " two pounds current proclama- 
tion money" was, perhaps, not forthcoming. 
The preamble to this curious old deed read 
as follows : "Whereas, Samuel Stephenson, 
Eldest son and Heir of his Father, Thomas 
Stephenson, and his Mother, Sarah Stephen- 
son, by Deed bearing date the Nineteenth 
Day of May, in the Year One Thousand Seven 
Hundred and Sixty Seven, did grant, Release, 
and forever quit claim unto the said David 



Ogden," &c. This deed conveyed to Mr. Og- 
den a tract of 1,2.50 acres, and lay " at or near 
Rockaway river." It would probably be a 
hard matter to determine the exact location 
of this land at the present day ; but, accord- 
ing to the map of the Boonton tract, this 
land constituted a portion thereof, and this 
mixes things worse than they were before. 
The deed to Van Winkle is signed by Mr. 
Ogden in a hand shaky enough to indicate 
that he was a hundred years old at the time. 
I have also now in my possession, also pre- 
sented to me by Judge Cobb, an autograph 
letter of David B. Ogden to " Lemuel Cobb, 
Esquire," requesting him in the name of his 
father (Col Samuel Ogden) "to lay off one 
hundred and twenty-five acres of the New- 
foundland tract," which his father has "agreed 
to sell to John Dow and Jacob Riker, at such 
place as you shall conceive to be reasonable. " 
This act of discretion on the part of the Og- 
dens to Sir. Cobb, certainly shows that they 
placed the utmost reliance in his integrity and 
good judgement — yes, considerably more so 
than we should expect one man to place in 
the discretion of another at the present day. 
This letter is dated Newark, January 24th, 
1801. 

I have likewise an autograph letter, also 
presented to me by Judge Cobb, of Col. Sam- 
uel Ogden to " Lemuel Cobb, Esquire," dated 
Newark, May 6th, 1802, of which the follow- 
ing is an exact copy : 

Dear Sir— Do, I pray you, forward me immediately 
the survey for Kingsland. I want it very much. I 
am your friend, Sam*l Ogden. 

Independently of all the immense landed 
estates owned by the Ogdens in New Jersey, 
Col. Ogden, in the year 1790, owned one-third 
of what was then known as the Phelps and 
Gorham Purchase, iu the State of New 
York. This tract contained several millions 
of acres, and was then valued at $1,000,<><io. 
Shortly after it came into his possessson Col. 
Ogden sold his share to the celebrated Robert 
Moiris, of Philadelphia, and he soon after 
sold it to the Holland Land Company. All 
these immense transactions in real estate 
prove pretty clearly that the Ogdens were 
very wealthy, and that they were all active and 
influential men. 

The principal object which the British Gov- 
ernment had in view in colonizing the newly 
discovered American continent was to furnish 



37 



a market for her surplus manufactures; and 
to this end Parliament shaped all its lej 

tion, and all attempts made by the col is 

to counteract this design were at once forced 
down by stringent legislation on the part of 
the mother country. As early as the year 
L699 Parliament passed an act declaring that 
none of the articles manufactured in the col- 
onies "should be shipped thence, or even 
laden, in order to be transported to any place 
whatever." This, as I take it, was rather a 
stringent enactment, and not to be borne qui- 
etly. True, under this arrangement, a wo- 
man might knit a pair of stockings for her- 
self or for any one of her own family ; but 
woe bo unto her if she attempt to knit and 
sell a pair to anyone else. In 1737 Parlia- 
ment directed the " Board of Trade to in- 
quire and report on the different manufac- 
tures carried on in their colonies." The next 
year the Board made their report, and among 
other things they state that there had been 
' ' erected six forges (one of which was in 
South Carolina) and nineteen furnaces ;" and 
also that " New York and New Jersey manu- 
factured great quantities of hats, of which 
the company of hatters in London com- 
plained." An act had already been passed by 
Parliament in 1732 "prohibiting the exporta- 
tion of hats from the colonies." It will thus 
be seen what a host of difficulties the early 
manufacturers had to contend with ; but in 
the face of all these unjust and cruel prohi- 
bitions we have seen that not less than twenty- 
five iron works — and there might have been 
twice that number for aught we know to the 
contrary, for it will be borne in mind that 
some of them were "carried on with great 
secrecy" — were established in the colonies 
even at that early day. That a large number 
of the iron works here referred to were lo- 
cated in different parts of New Jersey is a 
question that will not admit of discussion; 
and that the iron works at Old Boonton 
were among the number scarcely admits of a 
doubt. 

In the year 1830 there were located in New 
Jersey the following iron works, of various 
descriptions : One hundred and eight forges, 
twelve blast furnaces, sixteen cupola furnaces, 
and ten rolling and slitting mills— one hun- 
dred and forty in all. I doubt if there are 
one-tenth of that number of forges in ope- 
ration in the State at the present time, the 



main cause of the dimunition being caused 
by the scarcity of charcoal. By the report of 
the committee of the Tariff Convention, held 
in New York in October, L831, it appears that 
the iron manufactured at these several works 

was as follows: Pig iron, 1,(171 tons; bai 
iron, 3,000 tons ; castings, 5,615 Ions; total 
10,286 tons. This embraced tin whole amount 
of iron manufactures turned out in New Jer- 
sey during the year 183©, the par value of 
which was estimated at $1,000,000. From 
(his statement it will be seen thai the whole 
amount of iron manufactured in the Stab al 
lhal time was but a tiille more than was 
made at the Boonton works alone in 1859. 

I shall now introduce a few facts having 
reference to the first settlements made in 
Morris county, which, though not directly 
connected with the subject now under con- 
sideration, tend to illustrate some of the po- 
sitions which I have taken respecting the 
early settlement of Old Boonton. The infor- 
mation which follows has all been obtained 
from authentic sources, and consequently may 
be relied on. 

The township of Hanover was first organ 
ized about the year 1700, by the name of 
Whippinong, after the name of the tribe of 
Indians by whom it was originally inhabited. 
The name of Hanover was substituted about 
the year 1746. 

The first church (Presbyterian) in Morris 
county was built at Whippany in 1718. The 
congregation at that time was composed of 
the inhabitants of Morristown, Madison, Chat- 
ham, Hanover and Parsippany. The first 
clergyman that preached there was Rev. Na- 
thaniel Hubbel. It will thus be seen that 
Parsippany was settled at least L50 years ago, 
and why not Old Boonton (which probably 
was a part of Parsippany at that time) have 
been settled at the same time, if not sooner. 

The first church (Presbyterian) in Morris- 
town was erected in the year 1740; and the 
first court house in Morris county was erected 
in the year 1 !~<~>. 

The first church (Presbyterian) in Mend- 
ham was erected a little prior to the year L7 10, 
and the first minister located there was Rev. 
Eliab Byram. 

The first church (Presbyterian) in Madison 
was erected in the year 17 is, and the first 
minister was the Rev. Azariah Horton, who 
died March 27th, 1777. 



88 



The first church (Presbyterian) in Parsip- 
pany was erected in the year 17.")."), and the 
first minister was Kev. Jacob Green. 

The first church (Presbyterian) in Rocka- 
way was built in the year 1752, and the lust 
permanent minister was the Kev. James Tut- 
tle, who was installed in 1768. There was a 
forge, grist-mill and saw-mill established 
there before the Revolution, and a post-office 
was in operation there in 1 791. The name of 
Roekaway was derived from the Rockawaek 
tribe of Indians. 

In the year 17'.»2 Dover contained but four 
dwelling-houses and a forge. During that 
year a rolling mill was erected there by Israel 
Canfield and Jacob Losey. The first post 
office was established there in the year 
1820. 

There was a small store and grist mill at 
Montvillo before the Revolution. 

The Indian tribes residing in Morris county 
at the time of its first settlement by the 
whites were known as the Whippinongs, the 
Parsippinongs, the Pomptons, the Pequon- 
nocks and the Rockawacks, All these tribes 
are supposed to have been offshoots of the 
once powerful and Warlike tribe of Dela- 
wares. They had nearly all left this section 
of country and moved off toward the Dela- 
ware river some years prior to the Revolu- 
tion, although they frequently returned to 
pay the first settlers a friendly visit. 

A brief account of the old Peer tract may 
not, perhaps, be out of place in this connec- 
tion. I have the following information from 
William M. Dixon, Esq., and the venerable 
Mr. Abraham Peer. This tract lay on the 
easterly bank of the Roekaway river, extend- 
ing up from Old Boonton to the base of the 
hill upon which the village of Boonton now 
stands, and running thence along the base of 
the hill in a northerly direction up to the foot 
of what is termed Hog mountain. It was esti- 
mated to contain 1,000 acres, but when sur- 
veyed was found to contain nearly 1,100 acres. 
It was first surveyed by George Ryerson, the 
first professional surveyor known in the an- 
nals of Morris county. It was first taken up 
in the year 1714 by one John Scot, who was 
an extensive speculator in East Jersey lands, 
of whom it was said "that he was born to 
make trouble wherever he went," It was 
purchased of Scot's heirs in 1740 by Mr. 
Peer's grandfather and his brother, and the 



price paid for it was one shilling an acre. 
Quite a large portion of this tract still re- 
mains in possession of the Peer family. The 
old stone house on this property, formerly oc- 
cupied by the late Daniel T. Peer, was built 
before the Revolution. Mr. Peer's grand- 
father died at a very advanced age ; his father 
died at the age of 112 years, and he himself 
is now in his 87th year. Shortly after the 
Revolution Jacob Miller erected a saw-mill 
on this property, on the west bank of the 
Roekaway river, near the bridge, on the old 
road leading from Montville to Old Boonton. 
Some detached fragments of the foundation 
walls of this old mill are still visible there. 

Mr. Peer also informed me that during the 
Winter of 1780 '81 detachments of the Con- 
tinental army were encamped at Pompton 
and Montville, and that, falling short of 
provender for their horses, Gen. Washington 
used to ride out among the farmers in search 
of hay and oats. And whenever he found a 
farmer who had more hay and oats than he 
needed for his own use — not otherwise — he 
ordered the surplus carried into camp, where 
a fair compensation was always rendered for 
it. Mr. Peer said that he recollects distinctly 
having seen Washington at his father's house, 
on several occasions, and he spoke of him as 
having been the most noble and godlike look- 
ing person he ever saw in his life. Mr. Peer 
further informed me that, boy as he was, he 
recollects perfectly well having stood upon 
one of the Boonton hills and witnessed the 
passage of the Patriot army, as he called it, 
when it marched through Old Boonton in the 
Spring of 1781 on its way to attack Cornwal- 
lis at the South. He said the army was nearly 
three days in passing, and that it made a 
splendid and imposing appearance. Yes, my 
friends, the time will soon come when to have 
seen a man who had seen Washington, will be 
something worth boasting of. 

There was a substantial beaver dam across 
the Roekaway river at the bend, directly in 
the rear of Mr. Kanouse's store, within the 
present century, but it has long since entirely 
disappeared. The plot of ground on the 
east bank of the river, about midway be- 
tween here and Old Boonton, and for a long 
time known as the "old witch ground," has 
never been known to contain anything in the 
shape of tree or shrub, although, when first 
discovered, it was surrounded by a dense for- 






est on every side. In the "olden time 1 this 
strange and unnatural looking plol of ground 
used to be regarded with superstitious dread 

by all classes, but it has never been known to 
do anybody harm. Mr. Peer informed me 
that it used to be as smooth and hard as a barn 
floor and perfectly level, and thai it bore every 
visible evidence of having been frequently 

lu a\ ily trampled upon by somebody, or s - 

thing else, probably by tin Indians. There 
used to stand near by a large oak tree, with 
curiously crotched limbs, upon which it was 
believed by some of the old grannies that sev- 
eral young devils sat and fiddled, while the frol- 
icsome old witches used to trip it on the "light 
fantastic toe" on the ground beneath. Bui 
the age of witchcraft having long since passed 
away, this old dancing ground has not attracted 
much attention of late years, and is now sel- 
dom visited except by a few old fogies like 
myself. 

Powerville and Rockaway Valley were both 
settled before the Revolution. I have the fol- 
lowing facts and traditions from Mr. Fred- 
erick Miller, who had most of them from his 
grandmother, who was a sister of Mr. Abra- 
ham Peer. The dates of some of them are 
not, I presume, quite so correct as they might 
be, but still the facts related are worth re- 
membering. Mr. Miller informed me that 
his great-grandfather, Frederick Miller, who 
was a native of Holland, was one of the first 
settlers of Rockaway Valley. He came over 
to this country previous to 1760, but the exact 
date he does not remember. The spot where 
he first located was a small Indian clearing, 
directly opposite the place where the Meth- 
odist church now stands. The whole sur- 
rounding country at that time was still in a 
state of nature, and friendly Indians were his 
only neighbors. At the time of his first 
coming there there was an old Indian 
burying ground on the hill side on the east 
bank of the Rockaway river, near the mouth 
of Beaver brook. The late Captain William 
Scott disinterred large quantities of bones at 
this spot while engaged in making brick in 
the neighborhood some years ago. Some 
seventy-five years ago a man named Van Ri- 
per, in digging a well in the upper part of 
the valley, found a large oak imbedded in the 
earth at a distance of over twenty feet below 
the surface. This log was about two feet in 
diameter, and as sound in every part as 



though it had just heen deposited there 

Smei the valley was first settled it is known 

to have contained a heayj growth of both 
pine and oak timber. Toward the close of 
the Revolution Conrad Floppier built the first 
bridge across the Rockaway river at Power- 
ville. It Stood a. little above the spot where 
the upper bridge now stands, for the con- 
struction of which he received UnU, hilslnls 

of salt. The bridge was of rude workman- 
ship, and sail at that time was worth from $8 
to $10 a bushel. Shortly after the Revolu- 
tion this same Floppier buiU a dam across thi 
river just above the bridge, and erected a 
small grist-mill on the west bank of the 
river, a few rods below the bridge, 'flu 
the first mill of any description erected in 
Powerville. About the year l si iii there stood 
a large log house upon the spot where the 
house that Mrs. Munn now resides in now 
stands, and directly in its rear was quite an 
extensive tannery, owned and carried on by 
this same Hoppler. The first iron works es- 
tablished at Powerville was a forge, estab- 
lished thereby the late Joseph Scott, about 
the year 1812. A grist-mill and a saw-mill 
were in operation there at a much earlier date. 
About the year 1806 there was a rude dam 
across the outlet of Rattlesnake Meadow brook. 
It is said that it was placed there by the 
Faishes for the purpose of raising the water 
sulliciently high to kill the brush and bogs in 
the swamp. 

Mr. Miller also informed me that his grand- 
mother, when a girl, used to live with her 
mother in the old stone house formerly occu- 
pied by the late Daniel T. Peer, and that, be- 
ing left alone one night during the Revolu- 
tion, she built a large tire on the hearth and 
then retired to rest in a bed in the same 
room. In the middle of the night she was 
suddenly awakened by hearing a noise in the 
room, and rising up in her bed and looking 
around she beheld some haif-dozen Indians 
stretched out upon the floor with their feet 
pointing toward the lire. Becoming consid- 
erably alarmed at the scene she began to 
look around for a loophole through which she 
might escape; but she was soon quieted by 
the friendly salutation of a venerable old 
chief, who bade her banish her fear as no 
harm was intended her. She then laid down 
again and composed herself to sleep, leav- 
ing the friendly sons of the forest to enjoy 



40 



themselves after their own fashion. The last 
Indian seen in Boonton ' ' paddled his own ca- 
noe" through here on the Morris canal in the 
Summer of 1833, and my recollection of him 
is, that with his bow and arrows, he knocked 
the pennies out of a split stick, in which they 
were placed edgewise, at a distance of twenty 
yards, about as fast as half-a-dozen boys could 
pick them up. 

The Ball tract adjoins the Boonton line on 
the west, and came into the possession of 
that family something over a century ago. 
The old deeds show that portions of it were 
obtained of the Stephenson family, who were 
large owners of real estate in this section of 
country in early times. This tract was orig- 
inally surveyed by Thomas Millage, Esq., 
one of the deputy surveyers under the Crown 
for Morris county before the Revolution. 
William M. Dixon, Esq., informed me a short 
time since, that he had just been making a re- 
survey of a portion of this tract, and that he 
had no difficulty iu finding the marks and 
corners that were made by Mr. Millage more 
than a hundred years ago. He pronounces 
him one of the most correct and scientific 
surveyors that he ever surveyed after, and 
says that he must have understood his pro- 
fession thoroughly. The brief history of Mr. 
Millage that has come down to us represents 
him as having been a most intelligent, amia- 
ble and kind-hearted man ; but he was a true 
loyalist, and conscienciously believed it to be 
his duty to stand by his King and Govern- 
ment. He resided in Hanover township, and 
in addition to the office of deputy surveyor, 
he held a commission under the crown as one 
of the justices of the peace for Morris coun- 
ty. He was the owner of large landed es- 
tates in New Jersey, and highly respected by 
the public generally. At the breaking out of 
the Revolution he joined the King's forces, 
and was honored with a major's commission 
in the British army. When peace was de- 
clared, in ITS:;, and the independence of the 
United States acknowledged, he fled with his 
family to Nova Scotia. As a matter of course 
all his valuable estates were confiscated and 
sold for the benefit of the new government. 
One of his sons, Thomas Millage Jr., returned 
here shortly after the war, and lived and died 
in Hanover township. He was very poor in 
this world's goods, and had a large family de- 
pendent upon him for support. He resided 



in Parsippany when I was a boy, worked out 
at day's work for a living, and was generally 
regarded as a quiet, inoffensive and industri- 
ous man. But still I have more than once 
heard it thrown into his face that his father 
was a tory, and that he was not a whit bet- 
ter, and that both ought to have been hung 
for their crimes. So much for being the hon- 
est and well-meaning son of a loyal father, 
both of whom were beggared by the mis- 
guided conduct of the father. Such are the 
vicissitudes of human life, and it ill becomes 
the more fortunate to rejoice over the misfor- 
tunes of his fellow-man. 

For a long time I was unable to trace out 
the character of the business that Colonel 
Ogden was engaged in after he left Old 
Boonton, but I have finally succeeded in trac- 
ing it out. There is no other chronicle like 
the files of an old newspaper to enlighten 
up respecting many of the fleeting incidents 
of the past. While engaged a short time since 
in looking over the columns of a copy of the 
New York Packet, published Nov. 17th, 1785, 
I accidentally came across the following adver- 
tisement, which solves the problem without 
further debate. 

"Samuel Ogden, at his Store, No. 14 Water street, 
has for Sale, a very complete assortment of the fol- 
lowing articles, which he will se'.l low for Cash or 
Country Produce, New Jersey money of the year 
irs: j ,, and all kinds of Public Securities at their value ; 
—Bar Iron, of all sizes ; Round Iron, of all sizes : 
Sweeds, Waggon, Cart and Sleigh tire, neatly drawn, 
and warranted of good quality.— Audover Iron, of 
diflerent sizes— Booneton and other Refined Iron— 
Bloomery Bar Iron. Spike Rod lion, and Batsto Pig 
Iron. Also, a complete assortment of Hollow Ware 
and Stoves of different sizes and patterns. He has 
also on Hand an excellent assortment of coarse and 
fine Cloths fit for the season— Sheetings, Dowlas, Cor- 
duroys, Velvets, Moreens, Tammies, Durants, Calli- 
camancoes, Camblets, Sattinets, Lasting?, Callicoes, 
Chintzes, Threads, Worsted Stuff', Silk, Worsted 
and Cotton Hose, and sundry other articles :— And 
New York Rum of (he first quality. All orders for 
wrought or cast iron will be executed with neatness 
and dispatch. 

There you have it ; all sorts of iron and 
hollow-ware, dry goods with unheard-of 
names, together 'with "silk, worsted and cot- 
ton hose," and "New York Rum of the jir.< f 
quality" to wash them down — all for sale low 
for cash or country produce. Has Stewart 
ever offered for sale a greater variety of goods 
at any price or upon any conditions than are 
enumerated in this grand old advertisement ? 
And so it would seem from this advertise- 



41 



meet that refined iron was manufactured at 
Old Booueton soon after the Revolution, if 
not before ; and also that Col. Ogden was 
largely engaged, not only in the manufactur- 
ing but likewise in the mercantile business — 
in fact, most extensively so for a man in those 
early days. And does not this evidence of it- 
self go far toward establishing as a fact the 
supposition of Mr. Willis that Col. Ogden 
waB more or less connected with most of the 
iron works located in this section of couutry 
at that time ? I have lately been informed 
that Miss Scott, of Powervillt*, has now in 
her possession one of the old account books 
of Col. O^den, kept at Baonton during and 
subsequent to the Revolution, in which goods 
are charged to nearly all the iron works 
known to exist in the vicini'y at that time. 
It strikes me as something very strange that 
the Ogden family have been so negligent in 
omitting to keep a record of the doings aud 
transactions at Old Boonton in thoea days. 

The Rev. Peter Kanouse, a native ol Old 
Boonton, and now about 80 years of age, com 
municates some very ii_< cresting reminis- 
cences respecting the early history of that 
place. His memory ex ands back to about 
the year 1792, and he says that at about that 
period " I rode behind my father to the 
church at Old Boonton, and wept with cold 
hands and feet, and shivered during service 
in the .pen church without a stove. This is 
about as early as I remember anything con- 
cerning the house of worship. The old school- 
house was then there. If I may be allowed 
to conjecture who were the main men in 
building the church aud schoolhouse I should 
say J. J. Faish, Beaverhout and Brinker- 
hoof." 

Now I think that Mr Kanouse is badly mis 
taken in his conjectures as to the men who 
built the old church and schoolhouse, for Mr. 
Peer is positive in his belief that they were 
both built before the Revolution. If Mr 
Peer is Tight — and I think he is— it is not at 
all likely that either of the gentlemen named 
had any hand in building them. There is not 
a particle of evidence to show that Mr. Faish 
had auything to do with Old Boonton until 
after the Revolution ; Mr. Beaverhout lived 
some tour miles distant, and within one mile 
of the church at Pataippany, and Mr. Briuk- 
erhoof did not reside in this vicinity until 
the year 1787, and, like Beaverhout, he was 



much nearer the church at Parsippany than 
at Old Boonton. The common sense view of 
the subject would be that both of theee build- 
ings were erected by Col. Ogden soon after he 
came there. 

Mr. Kanouse again remarks: "The cut 
nail was then unknown in this region, but the 
slitting of iron into nail rods, rolling it into 
plates, hoops, &c, waB a great business. It 
was often said that this was the first rolling- 
mill in America, and, at that time, the only 
one, but of the trulh of the latter assertion I 
should doubt." 

That the first rolling-mill ever established 
in America was located at Old Boonton I 
think X have pretty clearly demonstrated ; 
but that there waB no other rolling-mill in the 
country at the time referred to (1792) I think 
is not at all probable ; for we have already 
seen that, shortly after having erected the 
rolling and slitting-mill at Old Boonton, some 
twenty years befoie, Mr. CumBon left here for 
the purpose of erecting a similar establish- 
ment in Maryland. 

Mr. Kanouse seems to incline to the belief 
that there was but little republicanism among 
the leading men at Old Boonton either during 
or immediately subsequent to the Revolution ; 
and he also appears to be a little skeptical on 
the point of Washington ever having visited 
there. But I think that upon both of these 
points I have most fully and conclusively 
proven the reverse to be the fact. 

And now for a word or two on the Bubject 
of nail-making by machinery, which, I trust, 
will prove somewhat interesting to a Boonton 
audience, more especially as nails out by ma- 
chinery constitute the principal article man- 
ufactured here at the present time. The ex- 
act date when cutting nails by machinery was 
first introduced into the world °ib now some- 
what enveloped in doubt aud uncertainty ; 
but I shall give you all the information I have 
been able to obtain upon the subject. Ha?en, 
in his " Panorama of Professions and 
Trades," says that " the first machine for 
making nails was invented in Massachusetts 
about the year 1806 by a Mr. Odion, and soon 
afterwards another was contrived by a Mr. 
Reed, of the same State." Now, notwith- 
stanling that Mr. Hazen may be considered 
good authority on most subjects, I find that 
he is not altogether correct in his statements 
on this. Qract Thorburn, a Sootchman by 



42 



birth, but an American in his feelings and 
sympathies — a man with a memory that never 
faltered— came to this country in the year 
1794. He was a nailer by trade, and he in- 
forms us that the first question he asked on 
his arrival here was whether there was any 
employment for nailers in New York ? This 
question was put to a man who came on 
board the ship before he left it, and the re- 
sponse was that a machine for cutting nails 
had just then been invented in this country, 
and that most of the old hand nailers were 
thrown out of employment. This was bad 
news for young Grant, for he had only a shil- 
ling or two in his pocket. But he was full 
of manly enterprise, and strongly impressed 
with the truth of the maxim that " Fortune 
never deserts the brave," he went on shore 
and commenced strolling round the city. The 
old City Hotel, in Broadway, was then in 
conrse of erection. This building was to 
contain a slate roof, the first of the kind ever 
placed upon a building in the United States. 
A peculiar kind of nail is required to fasten 
on a roof of this description, but on inquiry 
not a pound of such nails could be found in 
the whole city. It coming to the ears of those 
having the work in charge that a young 
Scotch nailer had just arrived in the city, Mr. 
Thorburn was traced out and applied to. The 
kind of nails wanted were described to him, 
and he was asked if he could make them. 
He replied that he could ; was at once engaged 
to do the job, which he executed to the satis- 
faction of all the parties concerned. When 
the City Hotel was demolished, in 1844, Mr. 
Thorburn was present, and secured, as a keep- 
sake, a small quantity of the nails which he 
had made just fifty years before. 

I was personally acquainted with Mr. Thor- 
burn twenty years ago, and frequently used 
to have short chats with him. I assisted him 
in transporting his plants from his old place 
in John street when he was removing thern 
to his new hot-houses put at Astoria. After 
that he frequently called to see me on my 
stand, when, taking a seat with me on the 
tail of my cart, he would light his pipe, and 
sit and smoke with me against time, his 
tongue running liKe a water-wheel all the 
while. He was the most comical looking man 
and the gossipiest that I ever saw in my life. 
He stood about four feet six inches in his 
stockings, wore a long, dark drab surtout 



coat, with hat in color to match, and sported 
a pair of boots that would have been looked 
upon by a giant as large in size. One of his 
legs was a trifle shorter than the other, and 
it was a pleasant sight to see him, with a 
sunny smile on his countenance, as, with his 
short, quick step, he went bobbing up and 
down Broadway, bowing to nearly every per- 
son he mtt. Old Grant was an original 
genius in every sense of the word, comical in 
his looks and actions, keen in his criticisms 
of men and manners, and sociable beyond ex- 
pression. He always knew the truth of what 
he said, always said what he meant, and al- 
ways meant what he said ; and he says that 
the nail cutting machine was invented the 
year before he came here. 

As confirmative evidence to prove that, as 
regards dates, Thorburn is right and Hazen 
wrong, I here quote an advertisement from 
an old newspaper, a kind of documentary evi- 
dence that cannot lie. The paper I quote 
from is a copy of the Aurora Gazette, pub- 
lished at the village of Aurora, Cayuga coun- 
ty, N. Y., dated Nov. 13, 1805 : 

" Nail Factory. 

The subscilber makes and oflers for Sale all Kinds 
of Cut Nails, ana Brads, at the following reduced 
prices per Pound : Is M. to Merchant?, or to those 
who buy to Keti.il : Is. \d. to any person who may pur- 
chase 20 Pounds : Is. Od. for any quantity under 20 
pounds. Aaron Ingai.?. ' 

Auroba, July 10th, 1805. 

Now, it does not look to me as at all likely 
that cut nails would be made at a small vil- 
lage away out in Cayuga county, N. Y., one 
whole year before the machine by which they 
were made was invented in Mapsachusetts ; 
for, I take it for granted, juding from the 
price at which they were sold, that they were 
cut by machinery, that is, by one of the ma- 
chines invented by either Odion or Reed in 
1793. The first cut nails that I ever saw- 
about the year 1816 — cut by one of those ma- 
chines, were of a large size, and cost thirty 
cents a pound. I therefore take it for granted* 
that the modern nail cutting machine was in- 
vented about the year 1793, instead of in 
1806, aB stated by Hazen ; but it is possible 
that I may be mistaken on this point after all , 
for there was a nail in the market called a 
cut nail long before 1793, but it was mostly 
made by hand. However this may be, Mr. 
Thorburn says plain enough that a nail cut- 
ting machine, which had destioyed the busi- 



43 



nees of the old nailers, bad just been invented 
when he arrived here, audcertainlj this must 
have been something entirely new to him, or 
he would not have noticed it. 

Henry Clay, in his great speeoh on the 
tariff in 1832, says " that but few nails of any 
description were made in the British colonies 
previous to 1750," and that at that time "near- 
ly half the iron manufactures exported to thi« 
country consisted of nails." Previous to tbe 
introduction of the nail cutting machines in- 
vented by Odion and Keedsome rude attempts 
at cutting nails partially by machinery had 
been made in this country. The process was 
something like the lullowing, which was a 
rather prosy kind of operation : The iron 
was first rolled into thio. plates, and then cut 
into narrow strips, corresponding with the 
length of the nail to be made, the same as 
at the present day. These strips of plate 
were then cut iDto wedge-like pieces by an 
instrument which acted on the principle of 
the shears, and these were aftewards headed, 
one by one, with a hammer in a vice." It is 
known that nails were made after this man- 
ner in Urge quantities at the Old Boonton 
works during the latter part of the last cen- 
tury and at the commencement of the pres- 
ent. To my own certain knowledge one Rob- 
ert Bowles, an Irishman of considerable in- 
telligence, but of dissipated habits, made 
nails of this kind at Old Boonton more than 
fi ty years ago. Mr. B jwles, according to his 
own story, was an intimate friend of the la- 
mented Emmet, and a leadiDg member of that 
secret revolutionary association styled the 
•* United Irishmen." He was a man of con- 
siderable wealth and influence in his own 
c mntry ; but, having associated himself with 
that revolutionary band, a hue and cry was 
raised against him, and for a time he was 
compelled to secrete himself in barns and out- 
houses until he could find means to escape from 
the country. I have often heard him relate 
the story, while discussing the merits of a 
mug of hard cider, that, having disposed of 
his property, he obtained a fine, fleet, high- 
bred charger, and a brace of horse pis- 
tols, and, with a bag well filled with guineas, 
he attempted to gain a seaport for the pur- 
pose of embarking for the United States ; 
how he started off one Gne morning on his 
venturesome j urney, and how he was hotly 
pursued by & couple of British dragoons, one 



of whom he shot ; but in trying to abstract 
the other pistol from his holster he lost his 
bag of golden guineas. The pursuit contin- 
ued for some distance further j but, possessing 
the fleeter animal of the two, he finally suc- 
ceeded in making his escape, with just about 
money enough in his pockets to pay his pas- 
sage to this country. He reached New York 
in safety, and soon after found his way out to 
Old Boonton, in which neighborhood he lived 
for ma»y years. 

The name of Gnorge P. McCulloch, Esq., 
the projector of the Morris canal, and conse- 
quently indirectly the founder of this village, 
deserves at least a passing notice in this dis- 
course. Mr. McCulloch was born in Bombay, 
East Indies, in the year 1775. During the 
years of his early manhood he was employed 
by Bonaparte in various financial negotia- 
tions for the East India Company. He came 
to New York in the year 18<><>, and soon after 
took up his permanent residence at M>rris 
town, in this county. He was a gentleman of 
wealth and education, was very benevolent in 
his disposition, and was engaged in most of 
the local enterprises of his day. He died at 
his own residence at Morristown June 1st, 
1858, at the advanced age of 83 years. His 
children mairied and intermarried into the 
oldest and best families in the vicinity. 

The earliest settlement known to have been 
made upon lands now properly included with- 
in the limits of this village was about the 
year 170G. In that year David Ogden con- 
veyed to Christian Lowrer a tract of land 
containing 58 65-100 acres, and it is presumed 
that the old house still standing on this prop- 
erty was erected thereon shortly after. This 
tract of land is pleasantly situated on the 
western slope of Sheep Hill, and has long 
been known as the " old Lowrer place." It 
belongs at present to the heirs of the late 
Dauiel T. Peer, and probably will soon be 
brought into market for building lots. 

The farm long known as the " old Norway 
place," containing G5 60-100 acres, was con- 
veyed by Col. Ogden to Charles Norway, March 
21th, 179-4. This tract joins the Lowrer tract 
on the southwest, and lies immediately ad- 
joining the line of the Boonton Iron Compa- 
ny's tract on the northwest. The life-right 
of Joseph Scott to this property is now vested 
in the heirs of the late John Iiighter, of Par- 
sippany. This, too, will no doubt soon be 
brought into market for building lots. 



44 



The plot of ground at Powerville, contain- 
ing 15 74-100 acres, now occupied, as it is 
supposed, by the Scott mansion and brick 
storehouse, was conveyed by Col. Ogden to 
Elias Van Winkle N»v. 14th, 1786. It be 
longs at present to the heirs of the late Capt. 
William Scott. 

Sheep Hill and the Tourne are both located 
on portions of the original Boonton tract. 
Sheep Hill was so named from the fact that 
some forty years ago a whole flock of sheep 
were massacred upon its top by dogs, all in 
one night. These hills — perhaps I should 
say mountains — both rise several hundred 
feet above the surrounding country, and from 
the Tourne in particular a very beautiful and 
extended view may be obtained. Standing 
upon its highest elevation, the spectator may 
survey at a glance nearly the whole of Mor- 
ris and parts of several other count. 68, and if 
he looks down upon tho far-extending plains 
and valleys which lie outspread before him 
he may trace with naked eye the various 
rivers and brooks which intersect with each 
other in every direction, which in appearance 
present to the view a groundwork of emerald 
interlaced with threads of silver. Indeed, I 
know of no other place in Morris county where 
a more charming and delightful, a more ro- 
mantic and sublime view may be obtained. 

The Great Boiling Spring, situated at the 
base of the hill, on the west bank of the 
Rockaway river, directly abreast of the iron 
works, is one of the largest of the kind in 
this section of country. It is a never failing 
fountain, and discharges an abundant supply 
of the purest and most pleasant drinking wa- 
ter for all comers ; indeed, the mcst so of any 
other similar spring in this region. In warm 
weather the workmen in the different mills 
and factories keep constantly in em pi oy a 
number of boys, who are engaged in bringing 
water from this famous spring into those 
places, where it is daily drank by the pailful. 
The water from this noble and ever bubbling 
fountain is certainly a more desirable and 
healthful beverage for the human stomach 
than the nauseous and lung-destroying rot- 
gut that is so freely dealt out with a willing 
hand by the keepers of the numerous grog- 
shops which are too thickly scattered around 
our beautiful village, and which is freely im 
bibed by too many of our otherwise respected 
and respectable fellow-citizens. My advice 



to all such topers and tipplers is, drop and 
discard the rotgut at once, and patronize 
more frequently the health-giving old Boil- 
ing Spring, where you may freely indulge in 
Nature's choicest and purest nectar to your 
heart's content — yea, even without money and 
without price. 

B ;ats on the Morris canal pass through this 
place on an inclined plane, which separates 
the village from the works. This plane is 
one of the two longest on this canal, being 
800 feet in length, with a lilt of 80 feet, 
which elevates the boats from the plain be- 
low up to the level of the river above the 
Falls. The planes originally used on this 
canal were invented by Professor JiitneB Ren- 
wick, of Columbia College, New York city ; 
but most of those of his invention have been 
removed, and otherB of an entirely new and 
improved construction have been substituted 
in their place. The planes now in use on the 
Morris canal transfer two boatB at one trip 
from one level to another much more Bafely 
and speedily than tuose formerly employed 
did one. This canal was the first in all the 
world upon which this style of inclined planes 
was introduced for the purpose of transfer- 
ring boats over high elevations of ground 
from one level to another on dry land. 

And now it comes to my mind that one of 
the most interesting features of B >onton is 
the fact that a large maj >rity of its inhabit- 
ants have long resided here and dwell in their 
own houses ; and, further, that most of them 
have acquired the means for paying for them 
since they resided here. This fact alone ar- 
gues strongly in Livor of the industrious 
habits of our people, and of the solid and 
healthful business character of the place. 
Taking into consideration the mixed charac- 
ter of our population, there is not, perhaps, 
in the whole country another manufacturing 
village of its size that contains a better char- 
actered class of citizens generally than Boon- 
ton can boast of. On this point I will only 
add that, as a general thing, our Boontonians 
are very dressy, passably polite and moder- 
ately intelligent ; but, as regards temperance, 
there is yet a wide field open before us for 
improvement. But still, greatly the larger 
number of them may be set down as strictly 
temperate and honest — at least, about as 
much bo as our " modern improvements" will 

admit of. 



45 



I have now, I believe, introduced bsfore 
you about all the iacts and information that 
have come to my knowledge respecting the 
past and present history of Boonton and its 
suburbs. Although I have not been as suc- 
cessful in clearing up many of the seeming 
mysteries in our past history as I could have 
wished, still I flatter myself that 1 have suc- 
ceeded in tracing out many facts and much 
useful information which was in a lair way 
of soou bung irrevocably lost. This long 
record of 1'actB and incidents, rude and un- 
polished as it is, will, I trust, be of some 
avail to the future historian of Boonton when 
the time for writing a standard history of 
the place shall have arrived. Other interest- 
ing documents may possibly be brought to 
light at some not distant day which may en- 
lighten coming generations upon subjects 
which to us look dark and unintelligible ; but 
I greatly fear that much valuable and curious 
information respecting the first settlement of 
Old Boonton has already been buried in the 
grave of oblivion, too deep to hope that it 
will ever be disentombed an*, brought to the 
light of day. 

A few reflective and speculative remarks 
upoj the natural curiosities and physical ge- 
ography of this section of country, and I 
shall retire from the discustion of this sub 
ject forever. Having now, as I humbly con- 
ceive, established a starting point, from 
whence a future pursuit may be commenced, 
I leave the subject for some abler pen than 
mine to prosecute to a more satisfactory ter- 
mination. 

Tlie whole country in and around Boonton 
formB a fit theme for man's study and inves- 
tigation. All the hills and valleys in this re- 
gion bear certain unmistakable evidences of 
having undergone many great physical 
changes at some remote period in the world's 
history. All the great mountain ranges in 
this section run in lines nearly parallel to 
each other from east to west, and it requires 
but a small outlay of the imagination to pic- 
ture to the eye the time when all the deep 
valleys lying between these mountain ranges 
were submerged by the watery elements. 
From numerous evidences, which amount 
almost to demonstration, I am led to believe 
that the time was when all those valleys 
lying between the Hulson river and Brook- 
lyn pond were covered with water, forming a 



succession of large lakes, extending from the 
tide waters of the Atlantic to the highest 
mouutains in New Jersey. I feel quite con- 
fident in my own mind that the time was 
when the falls at this place were considera- 
bly lower down the river, and much more 
elevuted in their position than they are at the 
present time. I believe that at some indtii 
nitely remote period in times that are past 
the narrow passage way between tbe rocks 
through which the river now precipitates it- 
self into the valley below was firmly joined 
together by a solid embankment of earth and 
rocks, nearly on a level wi:h the hills on 
either side, thus damming back an immense 
body of water upon what is at present termed 
the Rockaway valley. Let any person whose 
mind is of a moderately philosophical turn 
post himself upon the high rock* just above 
the blast furnace, and, looking around him 
from his elevated position, let him determine 
differently if he can. A moment's examina- 
tion aid reflection will convince him at once 
that a great and wonderful change in the 
primitive physical formation of the dark, 
narrow, rocky gl«n that yawns beneath his 
feet has already taken place, and that things 
are not now as they were in the beginning. 
Now, admitting this supposition to have 
been true, how is the present appearance of 
things to be accounted for ? There can be 
but one sensible answer given to this ques- 
tion, and it is this : These old barriers must 
have been swept away by some mighty con- 
vulsion of nature, the exact time when no 
human wisdom can ever determine. My own 
theory of that grand and terrible event is 
this, and I submit it for j ust what it is worth, 
nothing more. The old barriers that dammed 
back the waters of the upper, and perhaps 
the greater lake, probably gave way first, and, 
precipitating its contents into the lesser lakes 
below, swept everything before them until 
they discharged themselves into the ocean. 
Hence we may account for the sudden drain- 
age of these ancient lakes and the establish- 
ment of our present water courses, most of 
which run from west to east, and which, 
after winding their zig-zig way through the 
narrow openings in the hills and mountains, 



[*Note.— The rock here alluded to Las since been 
cut down and transformed into bla urnace No. 2, 
to make room for the railroad track, ich now runs 
up to within a few feet of the.F llu.] 



46 



continue on over the plains uutil they finally 
all mingle with the waters of the Passaic at 
Paterson. Thus may we derive the origin of 
tbe water falls at Boonton, Little Falls and 
Paterson, all of which are fed by waters flow- 
ing from the same streams, all of which 
were, no doubt, produced by the same causes. 
The fact of a large log having been found 
tmbedled in the earth twenty feet below the 
present surface in the llockaway valley some 
seventy years ago confirms the supposition al- 
ready advanced — that a deep lake once existed 
there — is not a wild chimera of the brain and 
wholly unworthy of belief. The new science 
of geology, which is still in its infancy, may 
at some future day engage in the investiga- 
tion of this subject, when the trutb or falsity 
ol the position I have here assumed will be 
satisfactorily explained and determined. I 
have here thrown out these few rude sugges- 
tions upon a subject of which I profess to 
know little or nothing, mainly to furnish food 
for future thought, and for the purpose of 
engaging abler pens than mine in its discus- 
sion. 

The Fossil Fish Quarry, situated on the 
east b nk of the R >ckaway river, about half 
a mile below Old Boonton, is the most won- 
derful curiosity ever discovered in this sec- 
tion of country. The fishes found in this 
quarry lie in regular layers, firmly imbedded 
in ledges of slate stone formation, some ten 
or twelve feet below the present surface of 
the soil. They all lie upon their sides, and it 
requires great skill and patience to get them 
out whole and undefaced. The ledge of slate 
stone in which these fishes are found deposit- 
ed ranges from twelve to twenty incheB in 
thickness, and lieB nearly on a level with the 
bed of the river ; but I imagine that the fu- 
ture explorer will find them increase in thick- 
ness, and to penetrate downward as they re- 
cede from tbe river. What may be the ex- 
tent of these deposits it would be difficult to 
determine ; but they may, and probably do, 
extend for miles in every direction. The 
fishes thus far taken from this quarry have 
all been small, and mostly of the same species 
as those which now inhabit our streams ; but 
a few have been found which are supposed to 
have belonged to a race now entirely ex- 
tinct. Our State Geologist, with a gang of la 
borers, spent several days here a few years 
ago in disentombing these little wonders. 



He obtained many fine specimens, which he 
distributed among the public institutions of 
our countiy ; but he left the quarry in a 
shape that makes it almost impossible for 
others to get at them. I have myself assisted 
in taking out a few very fair specimens, and 
I can bear personal testimony to the fact that 
they are not easily obtained. I leave the 
question to the future geologist to determine 
how many millions of years have elapsed 
since they were deposited there. 

Mr. Nathan Hopkins, an intelligent gentle- 
man of th s village, has shown me a fine 
specimen of plumbago, which he found on 
the side of one of our Boonton hil s. Its 
weight is between two and three pounds, and 
its character is of the finest quality, being 
entirely free from all foreign substances. The 
same gentleman also exhibited to me a small 
cluster of petrified marine shells, which he 
lately picked up on the top of Sheep Hill. 
He styles this natural curiosity f a collection 
of marine shells of ant -dil avian formation " 
A great number of natural curiosities of dif- 
ferent kinds have been discovered in the 
limestone quarry at Montville, but I have not 
been able to obtain any reliable information 
relating to them. I have, however, now in my 
possession a small piece of petrified whitewood 
timber, which bears indubitable evidence of 
having been cleft with an ax or some other 
sharp instrument. This specimen was taken 
out of this quarry by mysel", from the solid 
limestone rock, full twelve feet below the 
surface of the top soil, and is as solid and 
hard as the rock itself. Recently, while dig- 
ging the cellar for Mr. Thomas Hodkins' new 
house in Main street, a iittle above Brook 
street, the workmen came across a rock of 
considerable size, which, on being unearthed, 
was easily broken into several pieces. In the 
seams and cavities of this rock several clus- 
ters of large clamshells were found imbed- 
ded. The spot upon which this rock was 
discovered must have been at least one hun- 
dred feet above the level of the river oppo- 
site, and the earth in which it was deposited 
was of a gravelly formation. The fact is, the 
face of the whole country around here bears 
strong indications of having, at some former 
time, undergone great physical change* in 
its formation. I have no doubt in" my own 
mind but that there are mines of mineral 
treasures of one kind and another imbedded 



47 



n tLe numerous hills in and around Boon- 
toD, and that the day is not distant when 
their now hidden treasures will be discovered 
and brought to light. 

[Note.— Since the foregoing was written several 
very rich and valuable mines of iron ore have been 
discovered in the immediate vicinity of Boon ton, 
which are now being worked with large pr. (Its to 
their lucky owners ] 

And now, my friends, in closing this pro- 
longed and exhaustive discourse, permit me 
to pay a passing tribute of respect to the 
memory of the humble and unpretentious 
founders of this beautiful and romantic vil- 
lage. Bcenton was first settled mostly by 
emigrants from foreign lands, men and wo- 
men of iron nerves, who forsook " home and 
native land," crossed the rolling billows of the 
stormy Atlantic and came here to build up for 
themselves and their children new homes in 
a strange land. Many of them came from 
the land of Shakespeare and Milton— some 
from the birthplace of Scott and Burns- 
others from the " Green Isle of the Ocean," 
a land rendered famous the world over by the 
eloquence of her Grattane, her Philllpses and 
her Currans. In the full vigor of their early 
manhood they packed up their little all and 
embarked upon their yet uncertain venture. 
Having bade a last farewell to kindred and 
friends, they turned their backs upon the 
land of their birth, the sunny homes of their 
infancy, and the " green graves of their 
sires;" and, "casting one last, long, linger- 
ing look behind them," they proceed on their 
voyage to the New World. Their main ob- 
ject in coming here was to better their world- 
ly condition, to act the part of men among 
men, to build up new homes for themselves 
and their children in the land of their adop- 
tion—not to barter away their native dignity 
and manhood in exohange for a royal smile. 
They had left home and country and all their 
natural endearments far behind them, and, 
like the Pilgrims of old, they tied here to es- 
cape the tyranny and persecutions of a gov- 
ernment whose policy it was to oppress in- 
stead of protect them. They came here full 
of hopeful expectations to enjoy life and that 
freedom of thought and action which had 
been denied them in their native country — 
not to become the slaves of new masters in 
a distant land. They came here to found a 
new village in the wilds of America, and rear 
up their children to become intelligent men 



and women in this free and happy land — not 
to ravage and destroy the homes of their 
neighbors. Having escaped the dangers at- 
tendant upon a long voyage across the ocean, 
they arrived here in safety, and greatly as- 
sisted in laying the foundations of this now 
thriving village. And may we not now in- 
dulge the fond hope that those of our chil 
dren who are " natives of the soil and to the 
manor born" may appreciate their honorable 
position, and feel proud in styling themselves 
American citizens ? 

Whenever I traverse the streets of this 
now populous village, whenever I look around 
upon this respected audience, I look in vain 
for the old familiar forms and faces of 1834, 
for but few of them now are anywhere visi- 
ble. And this sad fact alone reminds me very 
forcibly that one generation of our ancestors 
have already passed away— 

" Bach in his narrow cell forever laid, 
The rude forelathers of the humlet sleep.'' 

The graves of some of them now dot the 
sloping hillsides of our beautiful rural village 
cemetery ; others have wandered off, no one 
knows whither, to die among strangers in 
distant lands. Like the " sear and yellow 
leaves" of the autumnal forest, they have 
fallen to the ground and disappeared forever. 
Another generation has already succeeded 
them, and now fill the places which they once 
filled ; but let it always be borne in mind 
that we owe to our hardy and frugal ances- 
tors that debt of love and gratitude which is 
always justly due to the memory of all first 
settlers. They felled the old primeval forests, 
cleared away the unsightly rocks and rub- 
bish, and made smooth and pleasant the ver- 
dant hillsides upon which we now dwell. 
They laid firm and deep the foundation stones 
of our present prosperity ; it remains for us 
to complete the superstructure, and for our 
children to place the capstone upon the tow- 
ering edifice of our future city of Boonton. 
Compared with their hard lot we may h tru!y 
say that our lines have fallen upon sweet and 
pleasant places, for we are now just begin 
*ning to enjoy the first ripe fruits of their toil 
and unwearied perseverance. In our head- 
long pursuit ht'er " something new " we are 
too apt to forget the instructive lessons taught 
us by the past ; but, let what will come, the 
memo.y of our brave old pioneers must not 
be forgotten. 



48 



And 3 here let ua pause for a moment to 
muse and moralize upon the frailty and un- 
certainty of all human things. It has been 
truly said that there is no such thing as a 
standstill in nature. The events and transac- 
tions of the present will soon become themes 
for the discussion of the future historian. 
God alone is immortal and immutable ; every- 
thing else in nature, whether animate or in- 
animate, is liable to change and perish. Like 
the ever-surging waves of ocean, one genera- 
tion succeeds another ; and king and beggar 
alike sink down together into the bosom of 
their common mother, Earth, and are soon 
lorgotten. The very ground beneath our feet 
is instinct with the dust of those who once 
lived and loved and struggled through the 
world in pursuit of fame and fortune ; and 
with us, too, " life's fitful fever will soon be 
over." The most delicate and highly per- 
fumed flowers bloom and blossom but for a 
day, and the lordliest oak of the forest bends 
and falls before the desolating march of the 
unchained winds. The loveliest and most 
loved, the most gifted and cherished of hu- 
man beings, oft sink into an early grave, 
leaving an " aching void" in many a warm, 
gushing heart which no other loved being 
can ever fill. Age, with its blight and mil- 
dew, soon robs youth of its wonted vigor and 
elasticity, and dims and wrinkles the flushed 
brow of beauty. The man of mightiest in- 
tellect, whose giant mind has directed the 
course of empire, and whose name is lisped 
by every tongue, dies, and the order-bespan- 
gled hero of an hundred battle fields, after 
having hewn his way to fame and fortune at 
the cannon's mouth, at last sinks down into 
the tomb, leaving only a name behind him. 
The tongue of impassioned eloquence, upon 



whose inspiring accents entranced millions 
have so oft enraptured hung, soon loses its 
power to charm and delight mankind ; and 
even 

" Poets themselves mast fall like those they sint?." 
The most valued and admired works of gen- 
ius and art soon lose their original freshness 
and beauty, and the most solid and durable 
of human structures soon gray with age, and 
crumble into dust and nothingness. Nations, 
also, like individuals, have their rise and fall, 
and having performed the part allotted them 
in the great drama of the world's history they, 
too, disappear from the stage of human action 

forever. 

" The wheels of Time roll swiftly on, 
'Tie coming and 'tis past ; 
This glorious day will soon be gone, 
And life is fketing fast." 

Of all the unnumbered millions of human 
beings who lived and breathed and made this 
beautiful world their home at the time of the 
first settlement of this romantic village, how 
very few now remain. We, too, shall die and 
be gathered to our fathers ; but, though we 
know that our bodies are destined to die and 
perish, we would like to have our memories 
live. Let us, then, as we hope to have our 
own names honored and remembered by our 
posterity, endeavor to cherish and perpetuate 
the memory of those brave old pioneers who 
penetrated the dark defiles of the forest, and 
laid deep the foundation stones of this now 
beautiful and flourishing village. And let us 
also unite together in pushing on the column 
of right and justice, of patriotism and civili- 
zation, and so perform the duties allotted us 
in our day and generation that our children 
may not be ashamed to stand up boldly in 
the presence of coming cen turies and justify 
the acts and deeds performed in their good 
old forefathers' day. 



APPENDIX. 






The following boinespun song, inanufac 
tured expressly for the occasion, was sung by 
tbe writer in bis exceedingly fascinating 
style immediately after tbe delivery of this 
discourse in 185!) ; and be is pretty strongly 
impressed witb tbe belief tbat be is about 
the only person on tbe face of tbe earth who 
could sing at all : 

BOONTON'S BOUND TO GO AHEAD ! 



PART FIRiT. 

A BRAN NEW LOCAL SONG. 

[To be said or sung to any tuue that suns it, for this 
night ouly.J 



Some one and thirty years or so ago, 

By skillful engineering onward led. 

The "old pioneers" began to blast and blow, 

And 9iug tLe good old tune— 

Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

2. 
They dug and delved among the rocks, 
And felled the tall old forest trees ; 
The wolves and panthers quickly fled 
Ab tbe shout still rose upon the breeze — 

Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

3. 

With zeal they plied the as. and spade, 
And soon aruoDg the trees an opening made ; 
The millwrights then began to hew and plane, 
And shout and sins with m'ght and main— 
Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

4. 
And now the work goes bravely on ; 
The village, too, begins to grow and spread. 
At length the Stati>i«nill completed stands, 
And LIU and vallej now proclaim - 

Boonton's bound togo ahead! 



Tbe old Rockaway, dam'd above the Falls, 
Kolls down the canal 'in d loud applause ; 
The impatient wheels salute the rapid stream, 
And, whirling round with rapture, scream— 
B jonton's bound to g > ahead ! 



The forges now with fiery lustre glow ; 
The rolls and hammers all begin 10 go ; 
The sturdy workmen, too, are there, I trow, 
And all the furnaces begin to puff and blow— 
Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

7. 
And now springs up the " tapering spire," 
Aud many strange and curious isms dire. ; 
But no great harm can e'er belall us 
While the old schoolhouse stands to tell us— 
Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

8. 
But all old things have pissed away, 
And "something new's" now the order of tbe day ; 
But while the "Union*" brags and the " Empire*" 

blows, 
And " old Liberty Hall" remains free to her foes— 
Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

9. 

The " United States" too's now In the held, 
With its " creature comforts" not a lew ; 
And, while its massive walls protection yield. 
And its " old wines " remain bo petter ash netv— 
Boonton's bound to go ah*ad ! 

10. 
Messrs. Fuller and Lord now reign supreme, 
With Mr. Go-ahead Lathrop, who's a " whole team," 
And, with their enterprise and steam 
And our present railroad prospects— 

Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

11. 
Soon you'll hear the snorting locomotive 
Thundering along its iron road : 
Then will come the New York millionaire, 
Aud join us round the festive board— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 



50 



12. 
Then all our verdant hills and valleys 
With splendid country seats will shine ; 
Oar streets with fine equipages will glitter, 
And our sidewalks with rustling hoops and crino- 
line— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

13. 
"Sheep Hill '' will then contain our City Hall, 
And politicians, hard and soft, will thither call ; 
While on the " Tourne" will stand a noble college 

pile, 
And load along its halls will ring the students' cry— 
Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

14. 
Great patriots then like bees will swarm, 
All anxious their dear country to " serve some ;" 
But, though they may each other harm, 
They can't dissolve this "great and gloi ions Union" — 
For Uncle Sam's bound to go ahead ! 

15. 
And when we have reared our City Hill, 
And have our Aldermen and Council chamber. 
Who knoivs but this child may have a loud call 
To act the part of flr>-t Lord Mayor— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

16. 
And when Boonton county obtains a charter, 
And Mornstown becomes a Boonton suburb, 
Then we'll begin to trade and barter, 
And give " Old Gotham" itself a hard rub— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

17. 
And should old Johnny Bull again come o'er the 

seas, 
Our wives aod Yankee rights to plunder. 
We'll send our valiant Captain Bishop and his " N. 

G.s," 
With orders to give him a little particular thunder- 
Fox Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

18. 
" Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast," 
And so hath the ' Boonton Temperance Band ;" 
Nearly all the State it's had a call to play for, 
And when '-not at home" they gladly accept the "Ex- 
celsior"— 

For both are bound to go ahead ! 

19. 
New Jersey now commands the highway peace 
Between the haughty States of York and Penu ; 
And, it they do not soon their bragging cease. 
From crossing our State we'll sure be stopping them— 
For Little Jersey's bound to go ahead ! 

20. 
Our little State, in its own affairs, is well schooled, 
And that's the reason why our sister States all bate 

us ; 
But when they find that we by them can be no longer 

fooled, 
They'll then be glad enough to again United Slates' 
us— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 



21. 
We then shall have our banks and money changers— 
Our " Peter Funks" and " Bulls and Bears ;" 
Likewise our "brown stone fronts" and " penny pa- 

peis"— 
Our splendid theatres and lots of "city fairs"— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

22 
And when our city cousins come out to cut their 

pranks, 
And make us long and pleasant calls, 
We'll take them to our splendid Fossil Fishing 

Banks, 
And serenade them nightly with the music of our 
dashing Falls— 

For Buonton's bjund to go ahead ! 

23. 
Our future motto, then, shall Onward ! onward ! be. 
Spread tar and wide the great and glorious news ; 
And by our enterprise we'll let our neighbors see 
Tlut we well deserve the name ot ' Jersey Blues"— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

24. 

Ho ! then, ye solemn, snarling, eauting croakers ! 
Go hide your " small, diminished heads ;" 
For, when we are dead and in our graves 
Our children will rise up and bless us with their 
praise— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

25. 
And now a health to our good old mother, Boone- 

Town, 
And to the memory of Ogden and McCulloch ; 
And three times three to the venerable old mansion 
Whose ancient roof once sheltered the head of Wash- 
ington— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

2G. 
And now, my loving friends aud neighbors, 
Remember the debt we all owe to the cause 0! right ; 
And, having finished now my present labors, 
I wish you one and all a "very good night"— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead I 

27. 
May all your coming dreauas be sweet aud pleasant, 
And your mture pathway bloom with flowers; 
May health and happiness with us be ever present, 
And peace and plenty be the lot of us aid ours— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

2S. 
I've finished now my long and homely ditty ; 
So let the co >1 aud sparkling bowl move round. 
Here's a health to our future Boontun City, 
And to oar lamous old Brooklyn Pond— 

For both are und to go ahead I 

29. 
And now I've sung my song aud said my say. 
And don't you think ' There's a good time coming, 

boys?" 
Then " hurry up the cakes" and clear the way, 
For we're the boys who fear no noise— 

F.>r Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 



51 



[*The names of two rival stores— the one bragging 
and the other blowing about their cheap goods.] 

The following right lively Bong, manufac- 
tured by the same machine, was sung by the 
same aoDgster in his charming and inimita- 
ble manner at the close of ibis discourse as 
delivered in 1867 ; and, as it was sung as no 
other man can sing it, he Hatters himself tliat 
everybody was pleased and captivated by his 
unequaled performance : 

BOONTON'S BOUND TO GO AHEAD ! 



TART SECOND. 



A SPAN BRAN NEW LOCAL COMIC SONG. 



To be said or snng to the tune of "Here She Goes 

and There She Goes"— with variations— on 

this particular occasion only. 

I. 

And now our brave old pioneers have passed forever 

away. 
May their names and fame endure forever more ! 
St<am and gas, and even thing fast, is now the order 

of the day— 
A change which none but a few old fogies deplore— 
Fur Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

2 

Our Boomon town, like ghost of old John Brown, " is 

marchlni: on," 
And all the predictions made in fifty-nine will soon 

come true. 
Then let us shout and sing and hail the " good time 

come," 
No matter if our canting, croaking tribe looks blue— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

3. 
Our good old township (1), with its brave old Indian 

nam> , 
In three divisions now march up to pay our soldiers 

bounty ; 
And, blow and bluster as we will, surely that same 
Or some other magic power will soon give us a new 
county — 

For Boonton county's bound to go ahead ! 
4. 
And now we have our long-desired town incorpora- 
tion ; (2) 
It is a stubborn, sterling fact— deny it if you can— 
And Boonton town will soon becom'e a midway sta- 
tion 
On the coming railroad from England to Japan— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

5. 

Our good old corporation " fathers" (?>) now are sail- 
ing hi^h, 

Their heads wtll filled with nove : s and romances; 

And ye gods, how our marshals make the rowdi s 
flyl 



And both man and beast obey our corporation ordi- 
nances— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

6. 
Fast hold they seize upon our naughty swimmer 

bojs (4), 
And gobble up our drunken, in°ane brawlers ; 
And should you stop along our stieets to gaze or gos- 
sip, (5) 
Ten to one you'll find youiself safe in our corporation 
lock-u — 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead I 

7. 
Our watchful marshals, too, a terror are to all evil- 
doers, 
And, though tbey f port no glittering stars or crosses, 
They seize and fine alike both great and small mls- 

rioers, 
And seldom let escape cur furious riders (6) of fast 
horses— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead I 

8. 
And our new commissioner of streets, as I've been 

told— 
So runs the startling rnmor round the town- 
lias pledged himself to pave our streets with solid 

gold! 
Believe it— if you are green ; but, if you do, you'll 
euiely be done Brown— (~) 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead 1 

9. 
Too long knowing ones have kept us in the dark ; 
But now we know we soon shall have our model 

Boonton park ; 
And, when our daily toil and task is done, 
We'll hie across the river and enjoy a little fun— 
For Boonton's bound to so ahead ! 

10. 
The park ! the park ! All hail our splendid Ogden 

park (8) ! 
Tis there we'll spend our holidays and have a jolly 

lark. 
'Tis there we'll dance and sirg and have a merry 

rout, 
And no old gouty millionaire shall dare to drive us 

out— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

11. 
And,ob, I wish I had a pocket full of California 

rocks ! 
Or any other kind of stocks, the payment of which I 

might rely on. 
I'd haste and buy me one of our new park lots. 
And open one very fast Le Grand Hotel de Lyon— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

12. 
And now another wondrous change hath come— 
The battle for the Union has been fought and won. 
The great rebellion's dead and in its gory grave, 
And Recession 'e standard bark hath sunk beneath the 
Union wave- 
But Boonton goes ahead 1 



52 



13. 
And now lei's build the soldiers' monument. 
In grateful memory ol the brave and true ; 
Then bear a willing hand, and sure you'll not re- 
pent 
This monument to the memory of " our boys in 
blue"— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

14. 
Our heroes dead ! to them rear high the marine 
shrine ! 
Nor in the good work let your kindly efforts lag ; 
For, In their early, hopeful manhood's prime, 
They nobly rallied round the " good old flag"— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 
15. 
Our country, too ! May she once more united stand, 
And peace and harmony with us again abide ! 
God bless and prosper this our native land ; 
But woe betide the man who would consent to " let 
the TJi ion slide"— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahtad ! 

16. 
'Tis true I might prolong this lively comic song 
Until your tea and toast gets cold and gritty ; 
But I luar our railroad (9) goug ringiug its last ding- 
dong. 
And I am off from Boonton town to New York city— 
For our Boonton Branch is bound to go ahead ! 
17. 
And there, among the rich old Bulls and Bears, 
With the growing beauties of om park their ears I'll 

stun; 
And publish far and wide among the gay old million- 
aires, 
And they will come ; and still the cry will be, " They 
come !"— 

And then our Ogden park will go ahead ! 

18. 
We then shall have our specie-paying bank sand board 

of brokers. 
And our good old town and park with Eden tints will 

bloom. 
Away then, " up Salt river," with all our discontented 

croakers (10), 
And for for our coming solid men make room— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

19. 

And now the iron horse comes snorting o'er the dis. 
tant plains ; 

And, lo ! it nearer comes, loud welcomed by the peo- 
ple's cheer ! 

By Jove I 'tis one of the long-expected California 
trains, 

And on it comes John Chinaman, with us to drink a 
glass of lager-bier— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

20. 
Then don't be afraid ! Take all the greenbacks you 

can borrow or steal, 
And invest them in Boonton chattels, either personal 

or real. 
For mv prediction is— and I wish you well to mark 

it- 



No discount will there be on Boonton stocks In this 
or any other market— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

21. 

Where now is Mrs. Grundy, with all her odd whims 

and fancies ? 
And where on earth is Chapman f Why in thunder 

don't he crow ? 
And where are all our addle-brained Ml-s Nancys, 
With their sage prognostics of " And didn't 1 told 

yon so ?" — 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

22. 
And now three minutes more I have of town clock 

time, 
And thiee rude verses more to shape and form. 
Attention, then, along the good old Union line, 
And cheerfully your several parts perform— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

23. 
Ho, then, ye sturdy iron-working men of Boonton ! 
Blow all your fiery furnaces both loud and shrill ! 
For, surely, If you retain your present powers of lo- 
comotion, 
You will live to see our future " city on a hill " 

For Boonton's bound to go ahrad ! (11)— 

24. 
And, should you live to see that sight of sights, 
And hear the little ones with " Grandpa! ' make the 

parlors ring, 
It will cheer your heart of hearts to tell them of this 

night of nights. 
When you heard the old prophet spout and sing— 
For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 

25. 
And now I've told yon all I'd like to have you 

know, 
And more, in fact, than I agreed to tell. 
Then all that remains for m; to do before I rom you 

go 
Is to tbank you for your kindly greeting and bid you 

all larewell— 

For Boonton's bound to go ahead ! 



NOTES ON SONG— rART SECOND. 

1. Peqnannock township ; lately divided inlo three 
parts for political purposes. 

2. Town of Boonton ; chartered last Winter (1867) 
against the wishes ol a majority of the people. 

3. Trustees of the town of Boonton ; have passed 
some very childish ordinances. 

4. Refers to boys arrested (or swimming in the 
Morris canal, contrary to a town ordina ce. 

5. Refers to an ordinance prohioiting persons from 
congregating on the corners of streets to gossip. 

6. Two of our young bloods, arrested and fined for 
riding faster than the law allows. 

7. Peter H. Brown, commissioner of streets, and a 
great blower. 

8. Suggested in honor ol the memory ol David Og- 
den, the first known owner of the Boonton tract. 

9. Boonton Branch of Morris & Essex railroad ; 
commenced running September 5th, 1867. 



53 



10. Refers to persons who sneered at the piedic- 
tlons made in 1859. 

11. The "city ou a hill" is now on exhibition for 
any one who wishes to see It, it having come a little 
sooner than was expected. 

FIRST PUINTING 1'HESS IN BOONTON. 
About the year 1839 our venerable towns- 
man, Dr. John Grimes, had constructed, upon 
his own premises (corner of Main and Lib- 
erty streets), aDd under his own personal su- 
pervision, the first printing press ever intro- 
duced into Boonton. The press was small 
in dimensions, and of rude workmanship — 
intended mainly for the printing of his own 
cards and labels. It worked well, and upon 
it he turned out some very fair specimens of 
printing in a small way — such as cards, la- 
bels, billheads and handbills. Everything 
turned out from this press was set up and 
printed by his own hands. And here let it 
be recorded that this was the first perma- 
nently established printing press in Morris 
county outside of Morristown. 

FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN BOONTON. 

I copy the following from a card attached 
to a copy of this book at the time it was pre- 
sented to me by the Doctor in person : 

" A Great Curiosity !— This Pamphlet is the very 
first thing of any length ever printed in 
Boonton. It was printed on a small hand Press, 
wholly and in every part, by Doctor John Grimes 
himself. It was published in his own house, oh a 
Press constructed upon his own premises— mostly 
by himself— at the time oi its date, 1840. It is now 
very scarce indeed, only a lew copies haviug been 
printed. Presented to me by the Doctor himself, 
Nov. 1st, 1867. N. B.— Let it be carefully preserved 
for the edification of posterity. I. t>. Lyon." 

The pamphlet here alluded to contains forty- 
eight duodecimo pages, and is entitled "Eight 
and Wrong in Boonton, No. 1." The sub- 
stance of this pamphlet consists of the report 
of a committee appointed at " a meeting of 
Abolitionists, held at the house of Mr. Con- 
dit on the 14th of March, 1840." The report 
itself bears date May 24, 1840, and it was 
printed shortly after. There was considera- 
ble trouble here at that time between the 
church people and the Abolitionists, and 
many hard blows were given and received on 
both Bides. This pamphlet is very fairly and 
correctly printed, and is the only publication 
of equal length that has ever been published 
in Morris county outside of Morristown up to 
this date, 1872. 

FIRST NEWSPAPER PRINTED IN BOONTON. 

I have a file of this publication now lying 



before me. It is entitled " The New Jersey 
Freeman." In size its dimensions are 11x15 
inches — published monthly by John (» rimes, 
Boonton, Morris county, New Jersey. Terms, 
single copies 25 cents per annum." The first 
number bears date June, 1844, and the last 
March, I8o0, being fifty-two numbers in all, 
and all that were ever published. These pa 
pers were published on an entirely new 
press, of considerably larger dimensions than 
the first, which was also constructed upon his 
premises under the superintendence of the 
Doctor. I transcribe the following explana- 
tory card, placed in the volume at the time it 
came into my possession. The volume is 
neatly bound and lettered and in good condi- 
tion : 

"This is the greatest and most valuable literary cu- 
riosity appertaiuii g to the history of the town ol 
Boonton 

This Volume of Newspapers, entitled " The New 
Jersey Freeman," contains a copy of the first, last, 
and all the newspapers that have been published in 
Boonton up to this date, 1867— fifty-two numbers in 
all. The " Freeman" was published month'y during 
a period ol portions oi six years, commencing in 
1814 and ei diug in 1S50. It was edited and published 
from beginning to end by Doctor John Grimes him- 
eelt, assisted occasionally by his son Malcolm L., a 
lad s mc 12 or 15 years of age ; and printed on a 
Press mostly of his own construction — he h iving a 
large and extensive practice as a physician during 
the whole time. It was published and circulated al- 
most wholly at the Doctor's expense— a copy of 
every number of which is contained in this volume. 
I lcok upon this volume as the most valuable literary 
relic that Boonton can ever pofsoss. The D ctor as- 
sures me that there are not above five full and com- 
plete copies of this publication in existence at the 
present time. Presented to me this day, November 
1st, 1837, as a very special favor, by Doctor Grimes 
himself, under the pledge that I would do everything 
in my power to transmit it down to the latest po«- 
terity ; and I herewith solemnly enjoin it upon those 
who shall come after mc to see to it that my pledge 
to the Doctor is laithfully lulfillcd. I. S. Lyon " 

As would naturally be inferred, the " Free- 
man" was an anti-slavery publication through- 
out, always firm and unyielding, but never 
abusive. In a recent conversation with the 
old Doctor (December, 1872) he informed me 
that both the presses here referred to are 
still in his possession, but not in working or- 
der. 

THE BOONTON "WEEKLY BULLETIN." 

December 8th, 1870. — The first number of 
the " Weekly Bulletin" made its appearance 
here to-day — Neal & Co., publishers, and Rev. 
R, B. Yard, associate editor. This number 



54 



was published at Washington, N. J., but it ia 
expected that a press will be established here 
shortly. This is the second attempt made to 
establish a newspaper in Boonton. 

March 3d, 1871 —This day the " Weekly 
Bulletin" was printed in Boonton for the first 
time. A few weeks later it made its appear- 
ance witli the imprint " A. A. Neal, Editor 
and Proprietor." It thus continued with 
waning success until August, 1872, when it 
passed into other hands, not, however, until 
its publication had betn suspended for a few 
weeks. 

August IJOth, 1872 —To-day the " Bulletin" 
ayain made its appearance in a new dress, 
and somewhat enlarged, under the manage- 
ment of Dawson & Garrison, publishers — S. 
L. Garrison, editor. Under the new manage- 
ment the paper has been greatly improved, 
and it is now on the high road to prosperity 
and success. It is Republican in politics, and 
is tolerably well patronized. 

LATE ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. 

In Part Third of this discourse—" The Fu- 
ture of Boonton" — as written and delivered in 
1859, it was predicted by the writer that many 
great and important additions and improve- 
ments would take place here within the next 
fifteen years — or, in other words, tha^ " Boon- 
ton was bound to go ahead !" From my 
diary of noticeable events occurring in Boon- 
ton I transcribe a few of the more important 
of them, with such comments thereon as may 
seem necessary to their full identification. If 
useful for no other purpose they will assist 
our posterity in comprehending the doings of 
our times : 

May 12th, I860.— The new Presbyt rian church of 
Boonton was dedicated this day. It stands upon the 
same lot that the old one did. Cost, $7,000. This 
church has been greatly enlarged and improved since 
that time. 

July 15th, I860.— John Hill's new " Empiro Branch" 
store, corner ot Brook aid Ceda'- streets, opened this 
day with " cheap goods." 

Sept. 16th, 1800.— The corner-stone of the new Cath- 
olic church was laid to-day. 

Oct. 10th, 1860.— The " Boonton Protective Union" 
commenced doing business in their new store (corner 
ol Brook and Birch streets) this day. They have 
one of the largest aud best arranged stores in Morris 
county. This association has long since been dis- 
solved. 

1861.— The bridge across the pond above the Falls 
was built during the Autumn of this yeur. It is 
generally known ae the ''New Biloge," and cost about 
$1,600. 



March 9tb, 1863.— The " Mechanics' Library Asso- 
ciation of Boouton" was organized at Washington 
Hall this evening. The following are the names of 
the officers ot the association elected for the ensuing 
year: Wm. G. Laihrop, President; Edwiu Bishop, 
Vice President; Francis D. Canficld, Corresponding 
Secretary ; Henry C. Jenkins, Recording Secretary ; 
David C. Ely, Treasurer ; George W. Es-len, Samuel 
C. Looker and John Woolton, Standing Committee ; 
Isaac S. Lvon. Lewis Estler and James S. Norris, 
Library Committee. This association commenced 
with seventy-live members, and soon after increased 
to one hundred and ten, aud yet it died even in its 
infancy. Yes ; it died from the want of proper at- 
tention and nourishment before it was two years 
old. 

July 8th, 1863.— The corner-stone of St. John's 
church (Episcoral) was laid this day. 

Oct. 13th, I860.— St. John's church was dedicated 
at 10 o'clock this morning with quite imposing cere- 
monies. Bishop Odenheimer, of New Jersey, and 
quite a number of other clergymen were present. 
The main building of this church is 24x58 lect, with 
two wings on the rear, which leaves it in the form of 
a cross. The total cost of church and fixtures foots 
up about $3,500— Kev. Francis D. Canfield, pastor. 

Dec. 21st i863 — Sieain was first used as a motive 
power at the Boonton Works at about this date. The 
engine Is located at the northerly co ner 01 the roll- 
ing-mill, and drives the lans to the puddling and 
heating furnaces. 

Feb. 22d, 1866.— This day ground was first broken 
on the "Boonton Branch" of the Mo.ris & E-eex 
railroad at Eenville. 

Sept. 5th, 1 867. —The cars on the "Boonton Branch" 
of the Morris & Essex railroad, carrying passengers 
and the mails, made their first trip from here this 
morning at 6:45 for New York. 

Sept. 19th, 1867.— The first coal train on the "Boon- 
ton Branch" came in this morLlng and landed their 
coals near the trestle-work bridge, south Oi the roll- 
ing mill. 

Nov. 22J, 1867.— A locomotive on the "Boonton 
Branch" came up to and past the blast furnace, up to 
within a few feet of the Falls, for the first time to- 
day. 

Dec. 8th, 1867.— Public services of the Dutch Re- 
formed church were held for the first time in Boontou 
at Washington Hall at 3 o'clock P. M. to-day, Rev. 
Mr. Conkting and Rev. Mr. DeBann, of Montville, of- 
ficiating. 

1867.— The "Town of Boonton" was incorporate.) 
by an act of the legislature of New Jersey during 
the Winter ot this year, contrary to the wishes of a 
mnjority ol its inhabitants. During the session of 
the last Legislature (Spring of 1872) our " town" was 
supplemented into a "city" without consulting our 
people, and before scarcely any one Of us knew that 
such a thing was in contemplation. 

1867.— The first house in our new park— that of 
George Fuller, Esq.— was erected duriDg this year. 

1867-'63 — The bridge across the Rockaway river, 
below the iron works, was built during these yeais 
at a cost of over $1,000. 

1867-'68. -Blast lurnace No. 2, 16 leet in the bosh, 
was erected during these years. No. 1, 14 feet in the 






bosh, was built in the year 1848. This latter named 
Inrnaoe has run a blast of 260 weeks, being the long- 
est blast on record. A powerlut steam engine, lo 
cated between these furnaces, now furnishes sulli- 
cient blast lor both. By nuans ol a branch railroad 
track cars now damp materials for the nse of these 
tuniacee directly at their base. These two furnaces 
make use of 100 tone of coal, 130 tons of ore, and 
large quantities of limestone, every twenty-lour 
limns, and turn out about 450 tons of pig iron every 
week. 

August 15th, 1S68.— The corner-stone of the new 
Metuodist church in Main street was laid tins day ; 
size ol church, 52x90 feet. 

1868.— The Dutch Reformed church, located In 
Washington street ; the new machine shop, located 
on the site of the old one, and the second large iron 
wheel in the rolling-mill, were all built this year. 

1861).— The Boonton Iron Company's new cement 
warehouse, located a little below the upper nail lac- 
lory, was built this year. This building is 70x100 
lest, five stories in height, with Mansard roof, all 
constructed of the be6t materials and in the most 
substantial mauner,.with a capacity lor storing 1,00 
000 kegs of nails, erected at a cost of $25,000. 

lS69-'70.— The Boonton, Paterson & New York 
Branch of the Morris & Essex railroad was construct- 
ed daring these years. One of the predictions made 
by the writer in 1859 was that within the next lineen 
years we should have a direct railroad communica- 
tion with New York, by which pissengers from boon- 
ton would reach that city in one hour's time, but he 
was only laughed at for his folly. The last time 1 
was down to New York I came up an thj express 
train ol the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western rail- 
road, lrom depot to depot, in juBt one hour to a 
minute, including a st oppage of three minutes at the 
mouth of the tunnel, and two at Paterson, the run- 
ning time being only 55 minutes. 

Kept, loth, 1870.— Coal trains commenced running 
on the new railroad lrom Buontou, via Paterson to 
New York at abi>ut this date. 

Nov. 2lst, 1870.— The bridge across the Rockaway 
river, above the dam, rebuilt and completed this day. 
It stands four leet higher than the old one, and cost 
about $2,900. 

Dec. 14th, 1^70.— Passenger curs commenced run- 
ning on the new Kranch railroad, via Paterson, to 
New York to-diy. 

March 6th. 1S71 —The nuiils were Irasporled o\er 
the new Branch railroad lor the Urst time to-day. 
" MODKKN IMPROVEMENTS." 
At the time this discourse was first written 
(1859) the village of Boonton was confined al- 
most wholly to the original purchase of the 
Boonton Iron Company. At that time the 
only bridge across the Rockaway river be- 
tween Powerville and Old Boonton was an 
oldricketty foot-bridge leading from the roll- 
ing-mill to the Boiling Spring. That portion 
of our city lying on the west side of the 
river, now styled the " Park," was then lit- 
erally a dense and howling wilderness, al- 
most impenetrable to man or beast. Now 



(January 1st, 1«7:J) the river is spauned by 
two railroad bridges, three road bridges and 
one elegant new lout bridge. The " wilder- 
ness" is now penetrated by numerous well- 
graded streets aud avenues, several of which 
are occupied by the splendid private resi- 
dences of our most wealthy and 'ashionahla 
citizens. But these are not all the improve- 
ments that have been made. The Hawkins 
place (on the west side of the river), the 
Lowrer place, the Peer farm, the Cookerow 
farm, and a portion of the Jacobus property, 
have been transformed into building lots, 
and hundreds of fine new buildings have 

been erected thereon, and the end is not yet 
come. 

BUSINESS STATISTICS, JANUARY 1ST, 1H73. 
Population, 3,500 ; dwelling houses, about 
700 ; families, about 775 ; churches, 5 ; stores, 
'-':; ; shops of various kinds, 8 ; drug stores, 
i' ; shoe stores, 4 ; clothiers, 4 ; stove and tin- 
ware, 2 ; watches and jewelry, 2 ; hardware, 
1 ; hats and furs, 1 ; butchers, 6 ; bakers, 3 ; 
barbers, 2 ; paints, 2 ; news offices, 1 ; milk- 
men, 3 ; hotels, 1 ; oyster saloons, 3 ; licensed 
beer saloons, 10 ; doctors, 5 ; dentists, 1 ; pho- 
tographers, 1 ; lawyers, none— several of 
them have attempted to establish themselves 
here, but they have all departed. We have 
a telegraph office, a printing office, numerous 
passenger trains on railroads running in 
every direction, and all the other fixtures of a 
first-class city. Twelve mails are now han- 
dled in our post office every day — six arrivals 
and six departures. The Boonton Company 
now work 12 double puddling furnaces, 11 
heating furnaces, G trains of rolls, 4 nut ma 
chines, 2 bolt machines, 2 washer machines 
and 138 nail inachiues, which turn out 100 
kegs of nails per hour. The title of the li , m 
is Fuller, Lord & Co., composed of the execu- 
tors of 1). 15. Fuller and J. C. Lord, deceased ; 
George Fuller, Esq., general superintendent! 
and Win. (J. Lathrop, Eeq., agent. 
CITY GOVERNMENT. 
Wm. Q. Lathrop, K-hj., Mayoi ; Edwin C. 
Bloxliam, Uiles H. Mauderville, Nathan L. 
Briggs, Charles F. Hopkins, Wm. Grubb, 
Archibald 1). Ureen and Wm. E. Davenport, 
Councilmen ; E. C. Bloxhana, President ol the 
Board ; E. C. Bloxham, Police Justice; N. S. 
Vanduyue, Clerk ; John Juries, Superintend- 
ent of Streets ; A. J. Kosse, Surveyor; Giles 
Ptomine, Marshal, and Charles Myers, Assist- 
ant Marshal. 



56 



BOONTON CORNET BAND. 
George Hessey, leader ; Jolin Green, Wm. 
Buchanan, Joseph Parker, John Kirkpatrick, 
Horace Bell, Squire Gage, Wm. Oliver, Geo. 
Jones, Samuel Kirkpatrick and J. M. Smith. 
OLD BOONTON ONCE MORE. 
During the last half-dozen years several 
trashy articles have been going the rounds of 
the newspaper press predicated upon facts 
swindled from this discourse under false pre- 
tences by a parcel of brainless literary Bohe- 
mians, whose souls are more diminutive than 
a sneak thief s. The false deductions drawn 
from these facts are well calculated to de- 
ceive and mislead an unthinking public, 
aud I feel that it is my duty to expose them 
now and here. I Belect a few of them, which 
are to the following effect : That " Colonel 
Ogden owned Old Boonton and the surround- 
ing country by inheritance ;" that " Colonel 
0>fden built a nail-mill there in 1770," in 
which he manufactured nails in " large quan- 
tities ;" that these nails were " sawed out of 
plates, which were previously saw- d out of 
bars ;" that a " detachment of soldiers were 
sent there" to ferret out and break up the 
mill ; that " you can read on the headstones 
such ' dates as 1737," and that the writer of 
this discourse has " letters in his possession 
bearing the postmark Boonetown, 1797." 

Now, all this senseless twaddle about Col. 
Ogden and Old Boonton is sheer romance- 
perfect bosh— indeed, only such stuff as 
dreams are made of. The Old Boonton 
property was given to Col. Ogden by his 
father many years before his death. The 
" nail-mill" said to have been built by Col. Og- 
den at Old Boonton in 1770 was a slitting-mill 
for making, not nails, but nail rods. It 
would seem that these " learned Thebans " 
don't know the difference between a slitting- 
mill and a nail factory, or between a nail and 
a nail rod. I am of the opinion that there 
were no nails made at Old Boonton until 
alter the year 1790 for this and other reasons : 
In his advertisement, published in the New 
York Packet in 1785, Col. Ogden makes no 
mention whatever of nails of any kind, 
which, I think, he would have done provided 
he had a nail lactory of his own making them 
in " large quantities." And that these nails 
should have been " sawed out of iron bars" 
seems quite funny to our modern nailers. I 



have now in my possession a specimen of the 
nails made at Old Boonton about Beventy 
years ago, but they don't look a bit aB though 
they had been sawed out. As to the foo-foo 
story about the "detachment of soldiers" 
sent to Old Boonton to pry out the secrets of 
the place, there is not a particle of truth in 
it. It is not on any authentic record of Amer- 
ican history that a British soldier ever trod 
the soil of Old Boonton at any time or upon 
any occasion. That " you can read on the 
headstones such dates as 1737" is not possi- 
ble, for there is but one such stone there, and 
that bears date 1782. The letters " bearing 
the postmark Boonetown, 1797," exist only in 
the dazed imaginations of these wilfully mis- 
representing Bohemians. 

" Fictions to please should wear the face of truth." 
But these do not, so let them pass. 

VALEDICTORY REMARKS. 

And now, my friends, let me say to you, in 
conclusion, don't be afraid to invest your sur- 
plus greenbacks in Boonton property. The 
iron and nail making business is now too 
deeply rooted here to be up-torn by any ordi- 
nary convulsions of trade or commerce. We 
shall, no doubt, witness our ups and downs 
of prosperity and adversity the same as other 
places do : but when the wheels of the Boon- 
ton Iron Company stand still you will look in 
vain for bustle and activity elsewhere. Capi- 
tal, skill, enterprise and foresight are all 
busily at work for our good. Let us, then, 
have faith and confidence in the management 
of the " powers that be," and the " good 
works" will follow as a matter of courBe. The 
" City of Boonton" and its suburbs now afford 
one of the most healthful and delightful 
Summer resorts to be found anywliere in the 
State of New Jersey ; and the time is not far 
distant when the wealthy inhabitants of our 
neighboring cities will find it out. Our new 
park, containing over two hundred acres, will 
furnish elegant and commodious building 
sites for at least two hundred magnificent 
country seats, and the time will soon come 
when they will be occupied for such purposes. 
Yes ; the New Yorkers, with their fast horses 
and long purses, will come, and they will dig 
down, and they will build up, and go on beau 
tifying our craggy old hillsides until they 
shall bloom and blossom with all the living 
splendors of a new Edan. We will then 
kick poor old sleepy-headed Morriatown out 



57 



of our path and go on our way rejoicing ; and 
we are bound to do it, too, if we don't burst 
our boilers in the attempt. Then don't be 
afraid to invest your surplus greenbacks in 
local enterprises, for there will be no dis- 
count on Boonton stocks in this or any other 
market. The future of Boonton is now se- 
cured, for she can't go back upon herself if 
the would. 
An i now, my friends, let us keep cool and 

not get frightened at any of our advanced 
movements. The enterprising spirit of our 
old mother, Old Boone-Town, " still lives" in 
the eoul of her blooming, go-ahead daughter, 
Boonton. Then don't be afraid. All that we 
have to do is to stand firm and erect, hold up 
our heads and keep off the track when the 
locomotive " Young America" comes dashing 
into our midst. All that I have ever pre- 
dicted, and a great deal more that I dare not 
talk about at the present times, will most ae- 
suredly take place beforo the year nineteen 
hundred shall have rolled round. Many of 
you will yet live to see the day when the rich 
product* of China and Japan will pass over 
the great Pacific railroad and its branches 
via San Francisco, the City of Boonton and 
New York on their way to London and Paris 
and other European marts. Some of you, 
perhaps, will lau h at this prediction, the 
same as did your " illustrious predecessors" 
at 'ome of those made in 1859 ; but when the 
" Extra Morning Oracle" of Boonton is laid 
upon your table beside your toast and coffee, 
announcing the safe arrival of the " East In 
dia Express train" in five days from San 
Francisco, you will then be compelled to be- 
lieve the startling fact. You, don't believe 
it ! Well, I tell you this now, but you can't 
see it — of course not ; but when the event 
has actually taken place then will spring up 
a mighty prophet in our midst, who will cry 
out with a great flourish of trumpets, " This 
is just exactly what /predicted years ago !" 
Well, perhaps he did, but forgot to have it 
acknowledged and recorded ; and this im- 
portant omission will place his prediction in 
a very equivocal position, to say the least of it. 

Bat, come weal or come wop, 
Mark well all that's been eaid, 
For, blow high or blow low, 
" Boonion's bound to go atatad I" 

GREENWOOD CEMETERY ASSOCIATION. 

This association was first organized about 

two years ago, since which time the cemetery 

grounds have been under improvement. Last 



Winter the association was fully incorporat- 
ed by a special act of the Legislature of New 
Jersey, with the names of the following gen- 
tlemen as incorporators : Enoch Hammonds, 
Jacob L. Hutt, Victor Thibou, Joseph Mil- 
ner, Senr., James H. Wootton, Nathaniel A. 
Myers, James G. Simms, Thomas Byard, 
Thomas Hammonds, Samuel Hammonds, 
John Maxfield and Richard S. James. At 
their first meeting Mr. Enoch Hammonds was 
chosen president. The plot of ground select- 
ed by the association contains about eight 
acres, and is beautifully located on the brow 
of the hill a little north of Old Boonton, be- 
ing about midway between that ancient place 
and the modern city of Boonton. The plot is 
about 250 feet wide, front and rear, and in 
length it extends from the road leading from 
Boonton to Old Boonton back to Washington 
street. The only carriage entrance to the 
cemetery grounds at present is on the Old 
Boo-iton road ; but when Washington street 
shall have been opened (which is now in con- 
templation) it is proposed that the main en- 
trance shall be from that street. Already 
these grounds have been nicely fenced, grad- 
ed, surveyed and handsomely laid out into 
carriage drives, paths and burial lots. These 
lots are 9x20 feet in size, and number about 
1,800 In all, some fifty of which have been 
sold, and several burials have already been 
made thereon. The price of lots ranges from 
$20 to $4J each, according to location. Num- 
erous trees of various kinds have been set out, 
all of which appear to be a healthy condition ; 
and, judging from present appearances, Green- 
wood Cemetery of Boonton is destined to soon 
become one of the most beautiful and attrac- 
tive homes of the dead in Morris county. 
The grounds of this cemetery are at present 
surrounded mostly on three sides by a dense 
f ores t — but the time is not distant when these 
old forest trees, which now intercept the view, 
will be cut down and removed to make room 
for the habitations of our rapidly increasing 
population. Then the thoughtful spectator, 
standing in the midst of this beautiful 
city of Boonton's dead, looking south 
will have a fine view of the classic ruins 
of Old Boonton, which lie outspread be- 
fore his vision in the narrow valley be- 
neath his feet ; while on the other hand, 
gazing in a northerly direction a still more 
enc 1 . anting vision will burst upon his enrap- 



/ 



58 









tured view — the modern city of Boonton tow- 
ering np like a scene of enchantment on the 
sloping hillside in the distance. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

COL. OGDEN ONCE MOKE. 

The Rev. Peter Kanouse has given it as his 
belief "that there was but little republicanism 
among the leading men of Old Boonton either 
during or immediately subsequent to the 
Revolution." I have heard one or two aged 
persons in this vicinity express the same 
opinion, which they no doubt believed to be 
the truth. I have always been greatly in- 
terested in tracing out every fact touching 
upon this point. Since commencing the pub- 
lication of this discourse in the Journal, I 
have been favored by Senator Cutler, of Mor- 
ristown, with a set of what are termed the 
"Old New Jersey Records," published from 
the original manuscripts by order of the Leg- 
islature of New Jersey last Winter. In the 
volume entitled "Minutes of the Council of 
Safety of New Jersey, 1777," on page 73, 



under date "Morristown, July 1, 1777," I 
find the following : 

Samuel Ogden appeared before the Board, pursuant 
to citation, and took and subscribed the oaths oi ab- 
juration and allegiance, agreeably to law. 

Again, on page 214, under date "Trenton, 
March 17, 1778," I find the following entry : 

Agreed that Col. Hathaway receive from Mr. Og- 

den, at Boontown. the 20,000 flints sent or to be sent 

into this State by Mr. Archibald Mercer from BostoD, 

(first paying to Ogden, at Boontown, for the cartage), 

and to be accountable for them when properly called 
upon. 

There are many curious and important 
facts brought to the light of day for the first 
time by the publication of these old records ; 
and among them all, there are none more in- 
teresting to the writer, than the fact, that Col. 
Ogden was a true man and engaged in the 
service of his country at a time when to ac- 
knowledge himself to be such was to endan- 
ger his own life. The above are facts that 
cannot be reasoned away, and they prove 
clearly to my mind that Col. Ogden was the 
true patriot, and the firm and devoted friend 
to his country that he has been represented 
to be in part first of this discourse. 



■FINIS.- 



L4 1574 



